What can I ask AI in my line of work?
Requests to copy into ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini for six small businesses, with what not to ask, what not to paste and how to check the answer.
AI-generated image: Internet of Things News / Google Gemini
After reading this article you will be able to:
- Copy and adapt ready-made requests for your own trade
- Recognise what you should never ask AI to decide and never paste into a chat
- Check an AI answer before it reaches a client, a customer or a patient
On this page
AI is good at the paperwork around your job: emails, notices, summaries of documents you are allowed to share, translations, checklists, and descriptions of products or properties. Below are ready-made requests for six kinds of business, to copy and fill in. Each one gives the AI the facts and asks for a draft. None asks for legal, tax or medical advice, because those decisions stay with you. On a personal plan, never paste client names, case files or health data: use placeholders like [CLIENT] instead.
This is lesson 4 of the free course “AI for small business”. The requests work in any of the common assistants, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini or Mistral Vibe. A request you type to an AI is often called a prompt.
How do you use these requests?
Each request has the same three parts. Who the text is for. The facts, which you paste or type in the square brackets. What you want back: length, tone, format. The AI writes from your facts. When a fact is missing, it may fill the gap with something that sounds right and is false. People call this a hallucination. So most requests below end with “do not add facts I did not give you” or “mark anything missing”.
If you use the same request every week, save it as a fixed instruction; lesson 5 shows how.
What can an accountant or a lawyer ask?
Both professions handle confidential client information. Use these requests with your own notes and with public documents, and replace every name and number that identifies a client.
Accountant
- “Write a friendly email to clients listing the documents they must bring for [annual task]. Use this list exactly: [list]. Deadline: [date]. Maximum 150 words. Do not add documents I did not list.”
- “Turn these meeting notes into a to-do list with who does what and by when. Keep every date and amount exactly as written: [notes with names replaced].”
- “Rewrite this paragraph I wrote for a client in plain language for someone with no accounting background. Do not change any figure, date or conclusion: [paragraph with names replaced].”
- “Write a spreadsheet formula that adds column C only when column B says ‘paid’. Explain in two lines how it works.”
Do not ask which tax rule applies, how much a client owes, or whether a deduction is allowed. The AI may answer with confidence and be wrong.
Lawyer
- “Summarise this published judgment in 10 lines: facts, legal question, decision, and the paragraph numbers you relied on: [text of the public ruling].”
- “Make a checklist of documents to ask a new client for in a [type of matter], starting from my list: [list]. Group them and do not add new items; list your suggestions separately.”
- “Rewrite this letter to the other side in a firmer but polite tone. Do not change dates, amounts or legal claims: [letter with names replaced].”
- “Translate this email from [language] into [language]. Put in brackets any legal term you are not sure how to translate: [email with names replaced].”
Do not ask for a legal opinion, the chances of winning, or case law to cite without reading it. AI can write references to rulings that look real and do not exist.
In Italy, Article 13 of Law 132/2025, in force since 10 October 2025, says professionals may use AI only for “attività strumentali e di supporto”, support work, with their own intellectual work prevailing. They must also tell clients which AI systems they use, in clear, simple and complete language. Lesson 2 explains what that means in practice.
What can an estate agent, a shop or a restaurant ask?
These businesses write a lot for the public, which is where AI saves the most time.
Estate agency
- “Write a property listing of about 120 words from these facts only: [rooms, size, floor, condition, energy class from the certificate, price]. Do not add features I did not list. Then write a 40-word version for social media.”
- “Write three polite replies to these questions people often ask about a listing: [questions]. Use these answers: [your answers].”
- “Make a checklist for a viewing of a [flat or house]: what to prepare, what to bring, what to tell the visitors.”
Do not ask the AI to estimate a property’s value or to describe what it has not been told. A listing with an invented feature can mislead buyers.
Shop
- “Write a product description of 80 words from this data sheet: [paste]. Friendly tone. Keep sizes, materials and prices exactly as written.”
- “Reply to this customer review in a calm, polite tone. Thank them and offer to talk in the shop. Do not promise refunds: [review].”
- “Plan four social media posts for next week about [new arrivals, a sale from date to date]. One line each, plus a suggested photo.”
- “Translate this sign into English and German, keeping it short: [sign text].”
Do not ask for legal wording on returns or warranties. Use the text from your trade association or your consultant.
Restaurant
- “Translate this menu into English. Keep dish names in Italian with a short explanation. Copy the allergen list for each dish exactly as I wrote it: [menu with allergens].”
- “Reply to this negative review. Apologise for the wait, explain we were short-staffed that evening, invite them back. No discounts: [review].”
- “Write today’s specials for our board and our Instagram page: [dishes and prices].”
- “Write an email to our supplier asking to move deliveries from [day] to [day] starting [date].”
Do not ask the AI which allergens a dish contains, or whether a dish is safe for a customer’s allergy. Allergen information comes from your recipes and your records, and you check every line of the translation against them.
What can a medical practice ask?
Use AI only for administrative texts with no patient data in them.
- “Write a notice for our waiting room and website: the practice is closed from [date] to [date]; for urgent needs call [service]. Plain words, 60 words.”
- “Write a template appointment reminder by text message, with blanks for [NAME], [DATE] and [TIME]. Maximum 160 characters.”
- “Rewrite this information sheet the doctor wrote about how to book and cancel appointments, in plain language. Do not change any instruction: [sheet].”
Do not ask about symptoms, diagnoses, doses or test results, and do not paste anything about a patient. Health data is a special category of personal data under Article 9 of the GDPR, with stricter rules. Medical advice stays with the doctor.
What should you never paste?
On a free or personal plan the maker may use your chats to improve its AI unless you switch it off. What happens to what you type shows each setting. Even on a business plan, paste only what the task needs. Never paste:
- names, addresses, phone numbers, tax codes or bank details of clients, patients or staff;
- anything covered by professional secrecy: case files, medical records, client accounts;
- passwords, access codes or card numbers;
- contracts or documents you have promised to keep confidential.
Replace them with placeholders such as [CLIENT], [AMOUNT] or [DATE] and fill them in yourself afterwards. Lesson 3 explains what business plans change.
How do you check the answer?
- Read every line before it leaves the office. You sign it, not the AI.
- Check every number, date, name and reference against your source. If the AI cites a law, a ruling or a study, open the official text.
- Ask the AI to show its doubts: “List any sentence in your answer that is not based on the facts I gave you.” It will not catch everything, but it helps.
- Compare with the original when you asked for a rewrite or a translation: nothing added, nothing dropped.
- Keep a person in charge of anything that reaches a client, a customer or a patient.
Where to go next
- Lesson 5: make AI remember how your business works shows how to save your tone, products and rules once.
- Lesson 2: the rules covers privacy, professional secrecy and the training log.
- Will AI take my job? sets out what the studies say about AI and work.
- AI for everyone is the complete guide to today’s AI, from the start.
Quiz: check what you learned
Pick one answer for each question: you see at once whether it is right, and why. Your answers are not sent anywhere.
Common questions
What is a prompt?
A prompt is the request you type to an AI assistant. A good one says who the text is for, gives the AI the facts it needs, and says how long the answer should be and in what tone. This page gives ready-made prompts with spaces in square brackets for you to fill in.
Can a lawyer or an accountant use ChatGPT with client data?
Not on a personal plan, and not without checking the rules of your profession and the GDPR first. Replace names and identifying details with placeholders such as [CLIENT]. In Italy, a law of 2025 also says professionals may use AI only for support work and must tell clients which AI systems they use. Lesson 2 of this course covers the rules.
Can a doctor use AI to write to patients?
A practice can use AI for general texts with no patient data, such as an opening hours notice or a template appointment reminder with blanks. Health data is a special category under the GDPR, so names, symptoms and test results should not go into a general AI chat. Diagnosis and treatment advice stay with the doctor.
Topics: AI for small business, prompts, accountants, lawyers, estate agents, shops, restaurants, medical practices