It depends. Most organizations now have AI policies that you should follow to avoid getting in academic or legal trouble. For example, BYU has an Academic Honesty policy that requires you to check with your professor to see if AI is allowed for an assignment. Always assume that it is not allowed until you hear differently from the authority figure. If it is allowed, keep track of the ways you use the AI to help you write so that you can disclose to your audience what was human-created and what was AI-generated. Be transparent.
When you use a generative AI to write, what you type is called a prompt. Check BYU's Prompt Library for examples of prompts that will yield writing like emails and other documents.
In addition to generating content, you can also prompt the AI to help you brainstorm ideas, refine research questions and thesis statements, and revise your writing style. No matter how you use it, remember to abide by the authority's AI policy and disclose how you used the AI tool.
Click here to see the tools that BYU has approved. Note that approval does not mean that using AI is allowed by every professor or organization. Still check the authority's policy.