Use AI by design.Not by default.
The five-part judgment gate for AI use in professional practice, drawn from Susan E. Guthrie's forthcoming Future Proof.
AI is likely already inside your practice. Absorbed from the ambient environment. Adopted by staff. Layered into the tools you already use.
Neither pattern is a failure. Both are information. AI is here. The question is not whether it enters your practice.
The question is whether you are using it by design.
“The tool does not carry your professional responsibility. You do.”
OZMAP™ is a five-part judgment gate for using AI in professional practice. Before you use an AI tool for any professional task, run the five in order.
Will I review this myself, and can I catch what it gets wrong?
AI produces confident output whether it is right or wrong. Someone has to stand between the tool and the final work product.
Is the decision here mine?
Analysis can be assisted. Decisions cannot be delegated. The zone of judgment is what you are paid for.
Is this the right task for AI at all?
Some work should not be handed to AI, no matter how capable the tool. Mindfulness is the gatekeeper.
How will I verify this against a primary source?
Every citation. Every fact. Every quote. Verification is not a suggestion; it is a professional obligation.
Have I protected confidentiality?
Before any client or matter information enters an AI tool, know whether that tool keeps your data.
OZMAP is not a checklist you complete once. It is a discipline you practice every time.
- 01Before you open the tool, pause and run the five in order.
- 02If any answer is no, do not proceed.
- 03If any answer is uncertain, that is your signal that the discipline has not yet been met.
- 04Print this Field Guide. Keep it next to your workstation. Run it visibly for as long as it takes to become second nature.
- 05Teach it to the next person in your practice who touches AI. That is how a governance culture is built.
OZMAP is the AI Workshop principle at the heart of Susan E. Guthrie's forthcoming Future Proof™.
Learn about Future Proof