Your AI tool and our Plain Language Standard — a perfect pair

Jayne Webb | April 23, 2026

Fish and chips with tomato sauce, nasi goreng with a fried egg, and Superman with Lois Lane — some things are just meant to be together. But not all matches are made in heaven.

When it comes to working with AI, it helps to treat the situation like a new relationship. Clear communication is everything.

We would say that wouldn’t we? But let’s explain why.

Think of your AI writing tool as an enthusiastic new partner. It’s boundlessly devoted — but it lacks boundaries and can’t read your mind. Sure, your new digital tool might eventually give you what exactly you want. But how do you get the best from the beginning and fashion a fabulous future together?

As any agony aunt will tell you, the most important ingredients are clearly communicated needs. Clear communication leads to more fruitful collaboration — clarity in equals clarity out. The same is true of our AI tools.

The secret to a happy union? The Write Plain Language Standard

Imagine asking your partner to do something completely undefined, like, ‘pull up to the bumper’, ‘pump up the jam’, or ‘don’t leave me this way’. The outcomes could be fun, but messy and unpredictable.

Now imagine being as vague with your new AI tool. ‘Find background information on modern urban infrastructure planning.’

Your human partner would probably ask for a bit more detail. But your enthusiastic AI tool doesn’t do that. It takes your vague prompt straight to its limitless library and throws together whatever random information seems algorithmically best suited to your prompt. By prompting so broadly, you’ve given the AI tool permission to decide what information to serve you. Does that sound like clear communication?

The quality of your AI output will always reflect the quality of your input (your prompt). To avoid misunderstandings, you need a shared set of rules — a little relationship boundary-setting.

Plain language satisfies your AI

Write’s Plain Language Standard can help. Plain language isn’t just for human readers — it’s exactly the clear, direct communication style your AI craves to ‘be its best self’. The Standard has clear guidelines about the big picture, language, layout, and polish elements needed for clear and compelling writing.

Couples therapy — elements of a healthy AI prompt

Good AI prompting is all about removing the guesswork. Let’s look at a classic communication breakdown.

Here’s an example of poor communication.

We need a report on our new leave policy, which was updated last month after receiving input from our whole team and an HR consultant, ensuring that all staff undertake the preferred instructions in future.

This prompt is vague. Your AI tool will dive into its data and likely bring back a generic, overly formal result that misses the mark.

• It doesn’t know the purpose of the report, what tone to use, or how long it should be.
• It doesn’t know the readers, the source material, or the house style.
• It doesn’t know what key messages to highlight or what sort of headings to suggest.

Plain language principles give us a better way to prompt. Apply these principles to your request, and ask the AI to use them in its answer. For example, be clear about your purpose, define your audience, and ask for a logical, reader-focused structure.

Here’s how a plain language prompt gives the AI clearer instruction.

Act as a team lead writing to update their staff. Write a 300-word summary explaining the new annual leave policy. Use short sentences and a helpful human tone, and reinforce key messages in informative statement headings. Structure the summary by putting the most important information from the reader’s point of view at the beginning and highlight what’s changed. Use only the source documents I give you and use New Zealand English. Use contractions unless they are negative contractions.

By using plain language principles in your instructions, you get a clearer, more effective answer. Fewer headaches, better reliability, and none of the fluff.

Download the Write Plain Language Standard — and use it when writing your AI prompts.

Meet Claira: your expert relationship counsellor

So, your prompt writing has improved, and your AI tool is giving you fantastic drafts. But how do you make sure the final output is satisfying for your human readers?

Even the best-prompted AI-generated content takes a human touch to make sure it’s empathetic, in touch with the context, accurate, and easy to read. Sometimes, you need an expert relationship counsellor to check in and make sure everyone is still speaking the same love language.

At Write, we’ve designed an AI review tool to do exactly that. Claira™ can help you in two ways.

• Check whether your prompt is in plain language.
• Assess your final writing against Write’s Plain Language Standard to check it’s clear and effective.

Ready to strengthen your workplace partnerships?

A healthy, well-managed relationship with AI saves you time, reduces frustration, and makes your entire team more productive. When you communicate clearly, everyone wins.

Try Claira™ — to assess your writing against the Standard and take your AI and reader relationships to the next level. Perhaps a diamond anniversary or fish and chips on the beach?