Told readers something was ready when that was their call
Writing
- Situation
- Having an AI write an announcement telling users about a new application form template.
- What the AI did
- It wrote "You can hand this out as is." Whether to hand it out was the users' decision, and some points still hadn't been checked.
- How to ask next time (the operator's example)
- "In the announcement, don't make choices that belong to the reader. Write only facts about what it can do, and phrase it so it's clear the reader decides."
- One question to ask
- Does this announcement settle anything the reader should decide?
- Check it yourself
- Search the draft for "ready," "you can now," "safe to," and "as is." For each hit, ask who decides this and whether it has been checked. Rewrite the ones the reader decides as plain facts.
- AI used (month)
- Claude Code (2026-08)
- Times this mistake was recorded
- once
- Source
- The operator's work records (the details were changed to a different task)