GenAI Field GuideGetting started
What it can actually do
Generative AI is best at work that has a draft, a source, or a pattern in it: writing, rewriting, summarizing, extracting, thinking out loud with you, and turning instructions into code. It is worst at being your memory, your calculator, or your judgment.
The six kinds of work
| Kind | Examples | Watch for | Verify by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Memos, emails, talking points, award and eval inputs, SOP first drafts, briefs | Generic tone; invented specifics | Reading it as the recipient; checking every name and number |
| Transform | Rewrite for a different reader, shorten, expand, change format, translate, turn notes into minutes | Meaning drift, dropped caveats | Comparing against the original once |
| Summarize and extract | Summaries, action items, decisions, a table of dates from a 60-page instruction | Missed items in the middle; figures pulled from the wrong table | Asking for the page and quote, then opening it |
| Answer from your sources | Questions over your SOPs, instructions, and references loaded into a project | Confident answers when the source is silent | "Only from the provided text; say if it isn't there" |
| Think with you | Brainstorm courses of action, red-team a plan, explain a topic, quiz you, build a checklist | Agreeing with you; plausible but untested ideas | Treating it as a whiteboard, not a decision |
| Compute through code | Data cleanup, calculations, charts, file conversions, if your role permits | Silent errors in the code | Reading the code and spot-checking the output |
What it is not
- Not current. Its knowledge stops at a training cutoff. Anything recent must come from search or the document you gave it.
- Not a calculator or database. Route numbers, dates, and counts to a tool or check them.
- Not aware of your unit. It knows nothing about your command, your people, or your last meeting unless you put it in the prompt or a project.
- Not accountable. It drafts; you sign.
Ten things to try this week
- Paste an instruction and ask for a one-page summary with the section numbers cited.
- Give it a rough email and ask for three versions: shorter, warmer, more formal.
- Load a style guide into a project and ask for a memo that follows it.
- Ask it to turn meeting notes into decisions, owners, and due dates as a table.
- Ask it to red-team a plan: "List the five most likely ways this fails."
- Ask it to explain a term you keep hearing ("what is a token?") at three levels of depth.
- Ask for a checklist for a task you do monthly, then edit it into your own.
- Ask it to quiz you on a qualification standard, ten questions, then grade you.
- Give it two versions of a document and ask what changed.
- If your tool can run code, ask it to write and run a small calculation, then check it against a spreadsheet.