AI · Work
How to use AI at work without getting into trouble
Use AI for emails, summaries, spreadsheets and meetings, within your company's rules. Save time on dull tasks and sign only what you've reviewed.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
Using artificial intelligence at work is, today, one of the fastest ways to save time and show value, as long as you do it within your company's rules and review everything you deliver. The most common uses are simple: writing and answering emails, summarizing long documents, organizing meeting notes, building spreadsheet formulas, preparing presentations and explaining new subjects. Many companies already offer approved tools, such as Copilot inside Microsoft's programs or Gemini inside Google Workspace. When the company doesn't offer one, you need to ask before using it.
The goal isn't to look like you're working less. It's to work on what matters and let the machine help with the rest.
Why AI is not a chatbot
In the office, the shop or the field, AI isn't the robot that serves customers in the company's place. It's a personal productivity tool, as the spreadsheet and email once were.
In Bairo's view, "AI is not a chatbot, but an extension of your consciousness." At work, he puts it plainly: the tool extends your capacity, but the name on the report is yours, and so is the responsibility.
Step by step today
- Find out your company's rule. Ask your manager or the IT department: may I use AI? Which tool? What kind of information can't be pasted in? If there's no rule, propose one.
- Start with the difficult email:
I need to answer this email [paste it, without names or confidential data].
I want to be clear, polite and firm about [point]. Write a
short reply and an even shorter version.
- Summarize long documents. For reports and internal policies you're allowed to share:
Summarize this document in 5 points and say what changes in practice
for someone working as [your role]. Indicate in which part of the text
each point appears, so I can check.
- Organize meetings. Write or dictate your notes and ask for: decisions, owners, deadlines and open items. Send them to your colleagues after reviewing.
- Beat the spreadsheet:
I have a spreadsheet with the columns [list them]. I want [the result].
Write the formula for [Excel / Google Sheets] and explain
each part as if I had never used a formula.
- Prepare presentations. Ask for a slide outline with one idea per slide and write the final sentences yourself.
- Learn the new subject. When a task you've never done lands on your desk, ask for an explanation in layers: first the basics, then the intermediate level, then the common mistakes.
- Measure the gain. For a month, note how long each task used to take and how long it takes now. It's a concrete argument in a conversation about promotion.
- Share what worked. Teaching colleagues to use the tool well is a form of leadership.
If you don't work in an office, the uses change, but the logic is the same. A driver can plan routes and understand the platform's rules; a caregiver can organize schedules and notes; a bricklayer can put together quotes and material lists. In every case, the question is: what part of my day is paperwork, math or text? That's where AI comes in first.
How Bairo did it
Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez held a management position at an education company as soon as he arrived in Brazil, in 2002. Then he lived on the other side, as the owner of small businesses that had to deliver with few people.
Technology came in for good when he decided to learn what he didn't know. He spent six months at home, in front of the computer, without knowing how to code, and built the foundation of the platform and the artificial intelligence of CEASA Bank, a financial platform for agribusiness. After those months, he joined forces with three old acquaintances to carry on the work. For him, AI multiplies what one person does, but it's the human team that gives direction to what gets built.
Precautions
At work, carelessness with AI can cost you your job: never paste confidential information, customer data, contracts or passwords into tools your company hasn't approved; review everything that goes out under your name; check numbers and policies at the source; don't use AI to give medical, legal or financial guidance outside your role; and pay attention to texts that reproduce prejudice, especially in communication with customers, assessments of people and hiring.