Use AI to Do the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing

AI is amazing at making things easy. Easy is not always right, though. Sometimes the right thing is hard — and skipping the hard part with AI hurts you (or others) in the long run.

Some examples

• Easy: AI writes your apology. Right: writing it yourself in YOUR words.
• Easy: AI does your homework. Right: doing it yourself so you actually learn.
• Easy: AI replies to a friend. Right: replying yourself with care.
• Easy: AI plans your gift. Right: thinking about what THIS person actually likes.

Try it!

Practice this safely

Try this with a low-stakes example and a trusted adult nearby. The goal is to notice how AI talks about ethical thinking, not to let it make the decision for you.

1. 1Ask AI to explain ethical thinking in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
2. 2Give it one detail from "Use AI to Do the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
3. 3Check right vs easy against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.