How to Use AI to Write SOPs: From Voice Memo to Finished Procedure

You’re the one everybody asks. How do I issue a refund, where’s the client onboarding checklist, what’s the login for the supplier portal. It all lives in your head, and you know you should write it down. You just never get two quiet hours to do it.

Here’s the short answer. You can use AI to write SOPs in about 20 minutes of your own time for a simple process: do the task once while you talk it through out loud, turn that recording into a transcript, paste the transcript into ChatGPT or Claude with a fixed SOP prompt, then have someone else follow the draft and fix what trips them up. The AI does the formatting and the tidying. You still supply the knowledge and the final check.

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Why AI is good at SOPs (and where it isn’t)

A standard operating procedure is mostly structure: a purpose, who it’s for, what you need, numbered steps, what can go wrong. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s guide on writing SOPs puts the style in one line: write them “in a concise, step-by-step, easy-to-read format”, in active voice and present tense, and keep them short (EPA QA/G-6, Guidance for Preparing SOPs).

That is exactly the kind of rewriting ChatGPT and Claude do well. Give them a rambling explanation and they hand back clean numbered steps.

What they can’t do is know your process. If you ask “write an SOP for processing refunds” with nothing else, you get a generic document that sounds right and matches nobody’s real work. The same EPA guide says SOPs should be written by the people who actually do the work. So the trick is simple: you bring the raw knowledge, AI brings the shape.

Step 1: Capture the process while you do it (5 minutes)

Don’t sit down to “write”. Do the task for real and narrate it, like you’re showing a new colleague over your shoulder. Say what you click, why you click it, and what you check before moving on. Mention the annoying bits too: “if the invoice is in dollars, stop and ask finance first.”

Ways to capture it:

• Phone voice memo. On an iPhone 12 or later, the Voice Memos app transcribes speech for you, and you can copy the whole transcript with one tap (Apple Support: Voice Memos transcription).
• Screen recording with your voice. Many video call and screen recording tools can produce a transcript. Grab that text.
• Screenshots plus notes. For a click-heavy process, take a screenshot at each key screen and type one line per screenshot.
• An existing mess. An old email where you explained it to someone, a Slack thread, a half-finished doc. That’s raw material too.

Messy is fine. “Uhm, then you go to, no wait, first you check the order number” is perfect input. Cleaning that up is the AI’s job.

Step 2: Turn the transcript into an SOP with one prompt

Paste your transcript into ChatGPT or Claude together with this prompt. Fill in the brackets.

You are helping me write a standard operating procedure (SOP).
Below is a transcript of me doing the task "[task name]" and explaining it out loud.

Turn it into an SOP with these sections:
1. Purpose (one sentence)
2. Who does this and when (trigger)
3. What you need before starting (access, tools, files)
4. Steps: numbered, one action per step, active voice, present tense
5. Checks: what to verify before the task counts as done
6. Common problems and what to do
7. Who to ask if stuck

Rules:
- Use ONLY what is in the transcript. Do not invent steps, tools or names.
- If something is unclear or missing, do not guess. List it under
  "Open questions for the author" at the end.
- Write for someone with basic computer skills who has never done this task.
- Keep it short. No intro, no conclusion.

Transcript:
[paste here]

Two lines in that prompt do most of the work. “Use only what is in the transcript” stops the model from filling gaps with plausible fiction. “Open questions for the author” turns those gaps into a short to-do list for you, instead of hidden mistakes for your colleague.

If your transcript is long, ChatGPT and Claude both handle it fine. For really long material, like a 40-page manual you want to split into several SOPs, see our guide to getting ChatGPT to summarize long documents for work.

Step 3: Answer the open questions, then fix the draft

Read the “open questions” list first. Typical ones: “Which folder are signed contracts saved in?” or “What is the refund limit before approval is needed?” Answer them in the same chat in plain words and ask for an updated version.

Then read the steps yourself, once, slowly. Look for three things:

• Merged steps. “Log in and create the invoice” is two steps. Split them.
• Missing decisions. Every “if this, then that” you said out loud should be in there.
• Invented details. A button name or menu path you never mentioned. Delete it or correct it.

Step 4: Let someone else test it

This is the step people skip, and it’s the one that makes an SOP actually work. The EPA guidance recommends that draft SOPs be tested by someone other than the writer before they’re finalized. Hand the draft to a colleague, a freelancer, or your future self in three months, and watch where they get stuck. Every question they ask is a missing line.

A good test: could someone with basic computer skills follow it alone, without phoning you? If yes, it’s done.

Some processes are easier to follow as a picture, especially when there are a few yes or no decisions in them. You can turn the same steps into a diagram: here is how to make a flowchart with AI from a process you have already written down.

Step 5: Keep your SOPs in one place AI can reuse

Once you have five or ten SOPs, two things help.

One home. A shared folder or wiki with one SOP per process and a clear name (“SOP: Issue a customer refund”). Add a “last checked” date at the top. Processes change, and an outdated SOP is worse than none.

One AI workspace. In Claude you can create a Project, upload your SOP template and a couple of finished SOPs as project knowledge, and add instructions like “always use this format”. Every new chat in that project then follows your house style without re-pasting the prompt. Projects are available on free Claude accounts too, with a limit of five projects (Claude Help Center: What are projects?). ChatGPT has a similar Projects feature. New to either tool? Our Claude tutorial for beginners covers the setup in your first 30 minutes.

An example: from voice memo to SOP

Say you run a small agency and onboarding a new client is always “ask Sanne, she knows”. Sanne records herself once while setting up a real client: creating the folder, sending the welcome email, adding them to the invoicing tool, booking the kickoff call. That’s maybe six minutes of talking.

Run through the prompt above, that turns into a one-page SOP: a dozen or so numbered steps, a “before you start” list (access to the drive, the email template, the calendar link) and three open questions Sanne answers in two minutes. The next time a client signs, a junior colleague does it from the SOP. And once the steps are written down and stable, you can see which ones a tool could do for you. That’s how you get from “documented” to “automated”, like in our guide to automating client onboarding with Make.com.

Hiring rather than signing a client? The SOPs you write this way are exactly what a new starter needs in their first weeks. Our guide on how to use AI for employee onboarding shows how to fold them into a 30-60-90 day plan and a new-hire FAQ.

AI SOP generators: do you need one?

Search for “AI SOP generator” and you’ll find dedicated tools, some of which record your screen and build a step-by-step guide with screenshots automatically. They’re handy for click-heavy software processes where a picture of every screen saves explaining.

For most small teams, though, ChatGPT or Claude plus the prompt above is enough. You already pay for it or use the free tier, there’s nothing new to learn, and the SOP lands in whatever doc tool you already use. Try the free route on three processes first. If you find yourself pasting screenshots all day, then a dedicated tool is worth a look.

Quick answers

Can ChatGPT write SOPs on its own?

It can write a generic SOP template from a one-line request. It can’t write your SOP, because it doesn’t know your systems, limits and exceptions. Give it a transcript or notes of the real process and it does a good job.

Is it safe to paste internal processes into AI?

Leave out passwords, personal customer data and anything confidential. Use placeholders like [CUSTOMER NAME] or [ADMIN LOGIN]. If your company has a policy on AI tools, follow it, and check whether your plan uses chats for training in the tool’s data settings.

What’s the best format for an SOP?

Short and scannable: purpose, trigger, what you need, numbered steps with one action each, checks, problems, contact. For a process with many branches, a simple flow chart helps, and the EPA guide recommends one too. You can ask the AI to draft the chart as a list of decisions first.

How often should I update SOPs?

Whenever the process changes, and otherwise on a fixed rhythm. The EPA guide suggests a periodic review, for example every one to two years. For fast-moving software processes, a quick check every few months is more realistic.

Can I turn meeting notes into an SOP?

Yes, if the meeting was someone explaining a process. Use the same prompt. For regular meeting notes, our guide on using ChatGPT to summarize meeting notes is the better fit.

Hiring someone to take over a process? The same interview approach works for the role itself: see how to use AI to write a job description.

Turning a bigger piece of work into steps, owners and dates instead of a single procedure? See how to use AI to create a project plan.

Interviewing for that role next? See how to use AI to create interview questions that check whether a candidate can really do the work, with a simple scoring guide.

Need to announce a new process in a team meeting? Turn the SOP into spoken talking points with how to write a speech with AI, so the rollout still sounds like you.

Your next step

Pick the one task people ask you about most this week. Record yourself doing it, run the prompt, answer the open questions, and hand it to someone to test. That’s one less interruption, every week, from now on. If you’d like a new hands-on AI workflow for your work every week, join the free Launchpad on our home page, or open robotshelp.me to see what’s inside.