AI Safety for Non-Tech Builders: “How do we make this real?” (Simple, practical)
A lot of AI safety talk gets stuck in “it’s complicated.” It doesn’t have to be. If you’re building with AI (even if you’re not technical), you can reduce risk a lot with a few default habits—the same way we made cars safer with seatbelts, rules of the road, and inspections. 1) Who teaches this? Not “the government.” Not “experts on Twitter.” You + your builder + your tools. Think of it like “AI driver’s ed”: - 20% is mindset (responsibility) - 80% is checklist + routines (what to do every time) 2) How should it be taught? Not by fear. Not by theory. By simple checklists + examples. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow this. ✅ The Non-Tech Guardrails Checklist (print this) A) Secrets & passwords (most common failure) - Use two-factor authentication on everything - Don’t paste API keys into screenshots or chats - Store keys in a proper “secrets” place (your dev will know) - If something feels off: rotate keys (replace them) B) Updates (the boring part that saves you) - If your app is public: ask your dev:“Do we patch security updates weekly?” - If you don’t have a dev: use managed platforms that update for you. C) Logs (so you can see trouble early) Ask: “Do we have logs turned on?” If the answer is “not really,” you’re flying blind. D) Ownership (someone must be responsible) For every AI feature ask: - “Who owns this if it breaks?” - “Who gets alerted?” - “What’s the rollback plan?” E) Kill-switch (simple off button) Every AI feature needs a way to pause it: - “Can we turn it off in 1 minute if needed?” 3) How do we “pressure” the world to do better? You don’t need to lobby governments to make progress. The fastest levers are: - Customer expectations (“we only buy tools with safety basics”) - Platform defaults (secure-by-default settings) - Procurement rules (“no guardrails = no contract”) - Community standards (we normalize checklists) Bottom line Cheerleaders can cheer. Builders can build.