How to Communicate with AI Lesson 11 of 20
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Part 3 - Working With Your Own Material

11. Give the AI Your Own Text to Work On

Goal: Have the AI summarise, rewrite or analyse text that YOU provide.

The AI cannot open your files or links, but it can work on any text you paste directly into the chat. This unlocks the most useful everyday tasks: summarise this article, simplify this email, find the key points in these notes.

The trick is to clearly separate your instruction from your pasted material, so the AI knows which is which. Use a label and a divider like triple dashes.

The Script (Template)

[Instruction about the text below].
---
[Paste your text here]
---

Worked Example

You write
Summarise the text below in 3 bullet points a busy manager could read in 10 seconds.
---
The quarterly report shows sales rose 12% overall. Growth came mainly from online orders, which increased 30%, while in-store sales fell 5%. The team recommends investing more in the website next quarter.
---
AI replies (sample)
- Overall sales up 12% this quarter.
- Online orders drove it (+30%); in-store slipped (-5%).
- Recommendation: invest more in the website next quarter.
Why it works
The dividers made it obvious what to summarise, and the 'busy manager, 10 seconds' framing set the length and level.

Do & Avoid

Tips

  • Always separate instruction from pasted text with a clear divider.
  • You can paste emails, notes, essays, transcripts - anything as plain text.

Common Mistakes

  • Blending your instruction into the pasted text so the AI treats it all as content.
  • Pasting private or confidential material without thinking (see Chapter 20).

Practice

  • Paste a paragraph and ask for a one-sentence summary.
  • Paste a wordy email and ask the AI to make it shorter and friendlier.
Teacher Notes Suggested: 20 min

Learning objectives

  • Students supply their own text and act on it.
  • Students separate instruction from content cleanly.

Talking points

  • Demonstrate the divider technique; show what happens without it.
  • Flag the privacy point early; full treatment comes in Chapter 20.

Answer key / what good looks like

  • Summaries should capture only the pasted content, at the requested length.
  • Rewrites should preserve meaning while changing tone/length.

Discussion questions

  • What kinds of text are safe to paste, and what should stay private?