Creative writing with AI: speeches, poems and family stories in your own voice

AI as a writing companion, not a ghostwriter

Many people dread a celebration speech for weeks beforehand. The blank page stares back, and one question keeps going round: where do I even start? This is where AI is at its best. It does not write the speech for you – its job is to help you find your own words.

If you just ask it to "write a wedding speech", you will get a neat but impersonal text that could fit any wedding. Listeners notice that straight away. But when you give AI your memories, names, funny incidents and your own turns of phrase, it helps you arrange them into something that sounds exactly like you.

Good tools for this include ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. All of them write well in English and Finnish, and all can be used for free to begin with. Claude is often praised for a natural, warm style, but it is a matter of taste – feel free to try more than one.

The best method: let AI interview you

A good speech is built from details. They are hard to recall when you sit down to write, but they come easily when someone asks. So start by asking the AI to interview you:

Answer the questions as if you were chatting with a friend: briefly, in everyday language, without polishing. You can also speak your answers into your phone if typing feels like hard work. Those raw answers are exactly what make the speech genuine.

Celebration speeches: weddings, milestone birthdays and memorials

Wedding speech

A wedding speech is usually three to five minutes long. A good one includes a short introduction (who you are and how you know the couple), one or two stories, good wishes for the future and a toast. Ask the AI to check that the speech contains no in-jokes only a few people will understand, or anything that might embarrass the couple in front of their grandmother. If you are speaking together with another best man or bridesmaid, ask the AI to split the speech between two speakers so that the turns flow naturally and each of you gets to tell your own story.

50th, 60th or 70th birthday speech

For a milestone birthday, a timeline often works well: a few moments from different decades. Tell the AI about the guest of honour's hobbies, favourite sayings and character, and ask for one central idea that describes them, which the speech returns to at the end. Humour is welcome, as long as it is warm.

Eulogy

A speech at a memorial is the most personal of all. AI can help you organise your thoughts when grief makes it hard to concentrate. Tell it what kind of person the deceased was, what they taught you and which memory of them you treasure most. Be kind to yourself: a eulogy does not need to be perfect, only sincere.

Poems and greeting card verses

AI can write a poem for a greeting card, a graduation or grandma's birthday. To be honest, it does better with free verse than with rhyming. Rhymes in Finnish in particular often trip AI up, and the result can sound clumsy or even unintentionally comic.

A good approach is to ask for several short versions and choose the best line or two, which you then rework yourself. Always say who the poem is for, what the occasion is and what mood you want:

If you want to turn the poem into a song, you can try a music service that creates a track from your words. There is more about this in the guide Video and audio with AI.

Family stories and your own memoirs

Many people would love to preserve their parents' memories, or their own, for the grandchildren, but never start because the task feels enormous. With AI you can do it one piece at a time:

1. Pick one topic at a time, such as "childhood summers in the countryside" or "my first job".
2. Tell the story freely – type it or speak it into your phone. Do not worry about order or grammar.
3. Ask the AI for follow-up questions: what did the place smell like, what did people say, how did you feel?
4. Ask for a tidy version, stressing that your sayings and dialect must be kept.
5. Read and correct. In a memoir, every word must be true and approved by you.

Over a few months you will collect dozens of stories, which you could turn into a printed book as a Christmas present for the family. The same method works for interviewing an elderly parent: sit together, ask the questions the AI suggests and record the answers with their permission.

How to keep the text your own

• Give an example of your own writing. Paste in an old email or letter and ask: "Write in the same style as me."
• Ban clichés. Ask the AI to avoid phrases such as "life's journey" or "from the bottom of my heart" if they are not your words.
• Edit it yourself at the end. Swap at least a few words for your own expressions. Small changes make a big difference.

You will find more tips on writing good requests in the guide How to talk to AI.

Copyright and privacy

Start today

Choose one memory you want to keep and tell it to the AI in five minutes. Then ask for three follow-up questions. You will soon find there are more stories than you imagined. If the party also needs a slideshow, see the guide Presentations and documents, and for letters and messages there is help in the guide Emails and letters.