Field Guide · Judgment and ops
Name the failure modes
Common ways AI help goes wrong at work - and how to notice them early.
Failure is specific
Vague fear (“AI is unreliable”) does not help. Name the mode:
- Confident wrong - fluent answer, broken fact
- Silent omission - looks complete, skipped a constraint
- Tool theater - used a tool, ignored the result
- Scope creep - asked for a draft, shipped a policy
Early warning signs
- Nobody can explain the last edit
- No one can find the source for a number
- The workflow only works for the person who invented it
Response
Slow down. Add a check. Shrink the blast radius. Document the miss once so the team inherits the lesson.