Using AI responsibly
Use AI as a helper for learning: write clear prompts, check what it says, be honest about using it, protect your privacy and know when not to use it.
📌 Key points
- Good prompts are clear and specific: give context, say the task and the format you want, e.g. "Explain photosynthesis for a 12-year-old in 5 short points."
- Improve answers with follow-up prompts: ask for simpler words, an example or another point of view.
- Always check important facts with reliable sources such as textbooks, trusted websites and teachers. AI can be wrong, out of date, or invent sources.
- Academic honesty: follow your school's rules on AI. Never hand in AI work as your own, and say when and how you used AI.
- Use AI to help you learn (explain, quiz you, give feedback), not to skip the thinking. If AI does all the practice, you do not build the skill.
- Protect your privacy: do not type in personal information such as your full name, address, school, passwords or photos of other people.
- Know when not to use AI: in an emergency, for health worries or serious personal problems, talk to a trusted adult or a professional.
- Many AI services have a minimum age and need a parent's permission. Check before you use one.
📖 Key words
- Prompt
- The question or instructions you give to an AI.
- Context
- Background details that help the AI give a suitable answer, e.g. your age or what the answer is for.
- Academic honesty
- Doing your own work and being open about any help you used.
- Plagiarism
- Presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own.
- Reliable source
- A source with checked information from experts, such as a textbook.
- Personal information
- Details that identify you, such as your name, address, phone number or passwords.
✏️ Worked example
Sara writes the prompt "tell me about volcanoes" for a school project. How can she use AI better?
- Add context, task and format: "I am 13. Explain how volcanoes form in 5 short points, with one real example."
- Ask a follow-up if something is unclear: "Explain point 3 in simpler words."
- Check the facts and the example in her textbook or a trusted website, because AI can be wrong.
- Write the project in her own words and follow her school's rules, saying how she used AI.
Before you trust an AI answer, ask: How do I know this is true? Where can I check it?
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