A simple personal AI workflow

Tools change. A small workflow keeps you steady. The picture below is the whole idea: you lead research, checking, and credit; the model mainly helps you draft.

You leadAI assists (also labeled “AI helps” on step 2)

Four steps

1. Research — Gather sources or notes yourself (or with search). Know what “good” would look like.
2. Draft — Use a model to outline, rephrase, or expand. Stay in the driver’s seat on structure.
3. Verify — Check facts, quotes, numbers, and claims against primary sources.
4. Cite / attribute — Credit people and sources you relied on. Note when AI helped if your context expects it.

Habits that travel

• Paste source text when summarizing; ask the model to stick to it.
• Keep a “doubt list” of claims to check.
• Save prompts that worked for recurring tasks — your personal playbook.

Not the same as an “agent”

This personal workflow is you deciding each step. An agentic workflow can loop through tools on its own — useful later, easier to overcomplicate now.

Takeaway

AI speeds drafting; you own research, verification, and attribution.