What's the first thing I should try with an AI writing tool to see if it's actually useful for me?

Start by asking the AI to rewrite something you've already written — a short email, a social media post, or a paragraph from an old blog post — because this immediately shows you the tool's voice, speed, and ability to improve your existing work rather than starting from a blank page. Most people jump straight to 'write me a blog post about X' and get disappointed when the output feels generic. That's like asking a new employee to give a keynote speech on their first day. A better test: take a clunky paragraph you wrote last week and paste it in. Ask the tool to make it clearer, or to rewrite it in a more casual tone. I did this recently with a stiff product description I'd written. The AI turned 'Our solution facilitates seamless integration across multiple platforms' into 'It connects all your tools so everything talks to each other.' That one edit saved me 20 minutes of staring at the screen. This approach works because you already know what 'good' looks like for your own writing. You can instantly judge if the AI made it better or just different. If the tool nails this task, it'll probably handle bigger projects. If it makes everything sound like a corporate robot, you'll know to look elsewhere. For more on fixing that robotic tone, see our guide on tone adjustment (/blog/ai-writing-sounds-too-formal). **Related**: How do I make AI sound more like me? | Which AI writing tool is best for beginners?