Write a speech, toast or eulogy with AI that still sounds like you

Use it when you have to speak about a person: a wedding toast, a retirement or leaving speech, a birthday or a eulogy. You have the stories. You want help with order, length and the hard parts.

Not when you want the assistant to supply the memories. It never met the person, and stories it writes may not be true.

You need an assistant, a phone for voice memos, a timer and about 90 minutes for a five-minute speech. The steps, prompts and times are our suggestion. For a written piece with facts in it, such as a work memo, use Writing: brief, draft, check. This page is the personal speech case.

What the research says

In three experiments on a workplace apology, where "AI-MC" means AI writing help, "the choice to use AI-MC tools diminished perceptions of the apology's authenticity", disclosing it "did not mitigate this effect", and limited use "had no negative impact on the perceived authenticity" (Glikson and Asscher, Computers in Human Behavior, 2023). In an experiment with 293 writers, AI story ideas made stories rated more creative, but "GenAI-enabled stories are more similar to each other than stories by humans alone" (Doshi and Hauser, Science Advances, 2024).

Steps

For step 1, Talk, then edit: dictation and voice mode covers getting a clean transcript.

I am giving <OCCASION> for <PERSON>. I am their <RELATIONSHIP>.
The audience is <AUDIENCE>. I have <MINUTES> minutes.
Use only my notes below. Do not invent stories, quotes, names, dates
or details. Do not write the full speech.
1. Suggest two or three structures, each a short outline naming which
   of my stories goes where.
2. Give three opening lines and three closing lines in the style of my
   sample. Plain words, no clichés.
3. Tell me which story to cut if I run long, and why.
MY NOTES:
<NOTES>
HOW I TALK:
<SAMPLE>

Replace the following:

• <OCCASION>: such as a wedding toast or a eulogy.
• <PERSON> and <RELATIONSHIP>: such as my sister Ana and older brother. A first name is enough.
• <AUDIENCE>: such as 80 guests, mostly family.
• <MINUTES>: the time you were given.
• <NOTES> and <SAMPLE>: your text from steps 1 and 2.

Do not rewrite my speech. Quoting exactly, list:
1. Every phrase that sounds like a greeting card or a stock speech, with
   a plainer suggestion in the style of my sample.
2. Every name, date, place, quote, number or event in the draft that is
   not in my notes.
3. Any sentence that sounds unlike my sample.
If a list is empty, write "none".
MY NOTES:
<NOTES>
MY SAMPLE:
<SAMPLE>
DRAFT:
<DRAFT>

Replace <DRAFT> with your speech from step 4, and <NOTES> and <SAMPLE> as before.

For a eulogy

• Paste gently. Health details, family rifts and money are other people's private matters. Use first names, and leave out what the person would not have wanted said. See What not to paste.
• Let the family read it first. Ask the closest relative, or whoever is organising the service, to read the final text. They may know a story that should not be told.

Should you say AI helped? We found no study of speeches. In the apology study, saying so did not help and limited use did not hurt. Our suggestion: use it lightly, and if asked, answer honestly, such as "I used it to sort my notes."

How to tell it worked

• Every story and name came from you or someone who was there.
• Read aloud, it fits your slot without rushing.
• For a eulogy, the family has read it and is comfortable with it.
• It has failed if you are reading lines you could not have written, or a story you first heard from the assistant.

Sources

1. Glikson E and Asscher O. AI-written apologies, authenticity and forgiveness. Computers in Human Behavior, 2023. Scenario experiments (peer-reviewed). Link
2. Doshi AR and Hauser OP. AI ideas, creativity and similarity of stories. Science Advances, 2024. Randomised experiment (peer-reviewed). Link

Changes

1. v1.010 Oct 2026first version