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Use the online worksheet insteadAIGovSpec · eleven-question worksheet
Analyse a proposal or a decision
Treat a decision as a proposal: name who would decide, what they would do, and under what conditions. Write “unknown” wherever authority, capacity, incentives or consequences are not clear. Unknowns tell you what to find out next.
Proposal or decision:
Who it affects:
01What outcome is being shaped?
In plain terms: What would be different for people if this works, and what pattern is it meant to change?
02What incentives currently produce or reinforce that outcome?
In plain terms: Who gains from doing things the current way, and what pushes people toward that?
03Which institution has the authority to act?
In plain terms: Who here can actually say yes, no or stop, and who has to live with the result?
04Does that institution have the capacity, independence, expertise, legitimacy, and accountability to act?
In plain terms: Could they really act: do they have the time, skills, independence and trust, and who holds them to account?
05What infrastructure does the mechanism depend on or reshape, and who controls it?
In plain terms: What does this depend on, such as data, devices, internet access or a supplier, and who controls that?
06What safeguards translate the objective into practice?
In plain terms: What would stop things going wrong, notice when they do, and limit the damage, and who would do that?
07Where in the AI lifecycle does the intervention operate?
In plain terms: At what stage does this act: from research and data, through building, buying and use, to checking, fixing problems and switching off?
08Who decided, on what authority, and who was not represented?
In plain terms: Who made this choice, who gave them the right to, and whose voice was missing?
09Who bears the costs and risks, and who captures the benefits?
In plain terms: Who pays or carries the risk if it fails, and who benefits if it works?
10What happens when the mechanism or technology scales across organizations, sectors, or borders?
In plain terms: What changes if many schools, clinics or organisations do the same thing, across sectors or across borders?
11What becomes difficult to reverse if governance arrives too late, and how will the governance mechanism itself be revised if it turns out to be wrong?
In plain terms: What would be hard to undo later, and how would we notice and change course if we got this wrong?