Your first safe AI use case
What you'll get out of thisLearner submits one safe first use case co-signed by manager.
Why manager co-signature
The point of Tier 0 is not that learners understand AI in the abstract. It's that they do something different next Monday and that the company knows what its people are doing. Manager co-signature converts a worksheet into a real first move.
If your manager is not available, your manager's manager or your team lead can sign. If you are the owner or founder and there is no one above you, write "self-attested. Owner." in the signature line. Aegis flags self-attested cases as a separate group for sponsor reporting.
Lesson
A safe first use case has six properties:
1. Specific. Not "use AI more." Specific: "use AI to draft customer follow-up emails after a service appointment, before sending."
2. Repeated. A task you do at least once a week. AI helps the most on recurring tasks.
3. Reviewable. You can read the output before it goes anywhere. No one-click sends.
4. Reversible. If the AI gets it wrong and you don't catch it, the consequence is fixable. A wrong internal draft is reversible. A wrong public press release is not. Stay reversible for your first use case.
5. Within data rules. Doesn't require pasting customer, employee, financial, proprietary, or regulated data into a tool that isn't approved.
6. Has a stop condition. You'll know when to abandon it. Examples: "If 3 of 5 drafts need significant rework, I'll stop and re-think." "If a customer flags a strange tone, I'll stop and report."
The selection worksheet
Fill in the answers below. Bring to your manager for sign-off.
1. The task I want to use AI for:
________________________________________
2. How often I do this task:
___ times per (day / week / month)
3. The AI tool I plan to use:
(Approved enterprise tool / public tool / unsure. Ask first.)
4. Data risk check (review Module 0.3):
- Does this involve customer PII? (Y / N)
- Does this involve customer financial data? (Y / N)
- Does this involve employee data? (Y / N)
- Does this involve trade secrets? (Y / N)
- Does this involve regulated information? (Y / N)
If any answer is Y, do not start until you've talked to your manager
or company AI lead about which tool to use.
5. My review pattern:
How will I check the output before it goes anywhere?
________________________________________
6. My success measure (after 14 days):
How will I know this is working?
________________________________________
7. My stop condition:
What would make me abandon this experiment?
________________________________________
8. One question for leadership:
(anything that would help you do this well that you don't currently know)
________________________________________
Manager review:
- This use case is approved as drafted [ ]
- This use case is approved with modifications [ ] (note below)
- This use case is not approved [ ] (note why below)
Modifications / notes:
________________________________________
Manager name + signature + date:
________________________________________
Examples by role
| Role | Safe first use case |
|---|---|
| Office manager | Draft policy reminder emails before sending. Review for tone and length. |
| Bookkeeper | Summarize end-of-month transaction list with anomalies flagged for my review. |
| Customer service rep | Draft initial reply to common customer questions. I always edit before sending. |
| Sales coordinator | Draft personalized follow-up emails after demo. Tailor to specific contact. |
| Field technician | Draft customer-facing service-completion notes from my technician notes. |
| Project coordinator | Draft weekly project status updates from my notes. Review and send. |
| Department manager | Summarize meeting transcripts into action items with named owners. |
| Estimator | Draft scope-of-work paragraphs for quotes (I provide the line items). I review before sending. |
Knowledge check
- ·A safe first use case must be: (a) reviewable and reversible; (b) one-click automated)
- ·Manager co-signature is required because: (a) liability; (b) it makes the use case real and the company knows what's happening)
- ·If your task involves customer financial data, you should: (a) proceed with any AI tool; (b) ask which tool is approved before you start)
Answers: 1. (a). 2. (b) and (a). 3. (b).
What comes after
You've finished the Tier 0 self-paced course. One short module remains. A 10-question routing instrument that helps your sponsor understand who on the team might be a candidate for Tier 1 (the operating-discipline tier where the Aegis Operator credential lives).
If you're running this course inside a workshop, the routing instrument will be distributed at the end. If you're self-paced, complete it now in Module 0.7.