Advanced · Critical thinking and your own skills · module 129 of 155
Explaining AI results to others
Tell colleagues, customers or your manager honestly how a result was produced with AI and how certain it is.
After this lesson
You explain what role AI played, what has been checked and what remains uncertain, in language your audience understands.
In view · Side by side
An honest explanation with an AI result
Say what AI did and what a human did.
State the extent of your check and what is still missing.
Conclusion and choice for a manager, consequences for a customer.
Part 1 of 3 · Role of AI
Your preference for less movement is on. Choose each part yourself.
Say what role AI played
Anyone who receives a report, advice or text wants to know how it was produced. Where relevant, state what role AI played: did it make a first version, a summary or an analysis, and what did a person do (lesson 84)? Too much emphasis on AI can cause needless worry; too little can mislead. Follow your organisation’s rules on disclosure. A short, factual sentence often works best, for example: summarised with AI, checked by the project leader.
Make certainty and uncertainty visible
Make clear what has been checked and what has not. Distinguish what you have verified in a source, what is an estimate and what remains unknown (lesson 103). Avoid words like certain, always or proven if the basis does not support them. Instead say: based on the figures from January to March; the figures for April are not yet known. Mention the most important limitation first, not in a footnote. That way your audience can judge for itself how much weight to give your conclusion.
Adapt your explanation to your audience
A manager mainly wants the conclusion, the level of certainty and what needs to be decided. A customer wants to know what it means for them and who they can turn to with questions. A colleague who takes over the work needs your method card (lesson 100). Avoid jargon such as tokens or temperature if it is not needed. Invite questions and be willing to show your checks. Trust grows when people see how you work, not when you say it is correct.
New practice example
From explanation to a usable result.
Explain what role AI played, what you checked and what remains uncertain, in language your audience understands.
Fictional practice situationFictional: a project leader had AI summarise the answers to a residents’ survey. She checked thirty of the two hundred answers. An alderman asks: “What do the residents want?”
View a possible solution
This is how it can be done
“The summary was made with AI. I checked thirty of the two hundred answers, and they matched the summary. Road safety comes up most often. For the smaller themes, the proportions are an estimate. If you want to make a decision on those, I will first have a larger sample checked.”
Why this works
The answer is short, mentions the check and its limits, and links the uncertainty to what the alderman can decide.
Make it slightly more difficult
Write the same message for the residents themselves. What do you leave out, and what must definitely stay?
Extra practice, at your own pace. You do not need to submit anything. This does not count towards an automatic assessment.
Your workplace · learning by doing
Make something. See what changes.
Checking the AI connection… You can already view the written example.
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Read the answer, change one thing, and compare.
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Why this approach works
The answer is short, mentions the check and its limits, and links the uncertainty to what the alderman can decide.
A step further
Write the same message for the residents themselves. What do you leave out, and what must definitely stay?
Try & discover · no obligation
Become the source checker yourself
Only mark statements that the source does not support. Then check your selection.
Fictional situation: AI grouped the complaints from January and February into themes. Twenty complaints have been checked by hand; the complaints from March are still missing. Which sentences in the explanation do not match that situation?
Select which sentences you would correct above. The answer remains hidden until you check your selection.
This trial works locally with fictitious data and does not count towards your lesson completion. It starts anew with a new lesson or reload.
A prompt to get you started
Help me write a short explanatory note of no more than 80 words for my manager. Fictional situation: I had AI group the complaints from January and February into five themes. I checked twenty complaints myself, but not the rest. The complaints from March are still missing. State the role of AI, what has been checked, what is missing and what the manager can decide. Do not use words like certain or proven.
Apply it
Your manager asks whether the AI analysis of customer satisfaction is correct. You checked a sample of ten answers, but not the rest.
Which approach best fits this situation?
- Say what AI did, that you checked ten answers and what that does and does not tell you about the rest.
- Say that the analysis is correct, because the sample was good.
- Say nothing about the check, so the analysis comes across as more convincing.
With JavaScript, you can check your approach and receive immediate feedback.
Test your insight
Which sentence gives your audience the most honest information?
- The AI analysis shows with certainty that delivery times are the biggest problem.
- In the complaints from January and February, grouped with AI and spot-checked, delivery times come up most often; March is still missing.
- The AI analysed everything, so the conclusion is correct.
Extra practice
Choose a result you produced with AI help. Write two short explanatory notes: one for a manager and one for a customer or outsider. Have someone read them to see whether the uncertainty is clear.
“AI grouped the complaints from January and February into five themes. I checked twenty complaints myself; they were in the right theme. The complaints from March are not yet included. The largest theme, delivery times, seems clear, but the proportions between the smaller themes are an estimate. Proposal: we decide on delivery times now and look at the rest after March.”
