AI Safety Next Step: 20-Min “Nightmare Scenario Drill” (Built from our last threads)
Last posts I shared: - Guardrails 101 (copy/paste checklist), and - AI Safety for Non-Tech Builders (driver’s-ed framing) Those sparked good questions — “Okay, but how do I actually think about risk like this?” And in the comments, @Nicholas Vidal pushed the conversation into real, operational safety — ownership, kill-switch, reality checks — and @Kevin Farrugia added the “nightmare in one sentence” idea people really resonated with. So I turned that into something you can actually run: A 20-minute “nightmare scenario drill” for any AI feature — even if you’re not technical. ⸻ Quick definitions (so non-tech people stay with us) - Threat model = simple version of→ “What could go wrong, and who could get hurt?” - Kill switch =→ “How do we pause/disable this fast if it misbehaves?” - Audit log =→ “A record of what happened, so we can see when/where it went wrong.” You don’t need to be a security engineer to use these. You just need the right questions. ⸻ Step 1 — One-sentence nightmare ✅ (Kevin’s point) Write this: “If this goes wrong, the worst thing that could happen is…” Examples: - “Our AI chatbot leaks customer data in a reply.” - “Our content tool generates harmful content with our brand on it.” - “Our automation sends 500 wrong emails before anyone notices.” If you can’t write this sentence, you’re not ready to ship. ⸻ Step 2 — Owner + alert ✅ (Nick & Kevin) Now add: - Owner: “If this nightmare starts, who is responsible for acting?”(name + role, one person) - Alert: “How do they find out?”(email, Slack, SMS…) If everyone owns safety, no one owns safety. Put one name on it. ⸻ Step 3 — Kill switch in under 1 minute ✅ (Nick’s big theme) Answer in plain language: - “How do we pause or disable this feature in under 1 minute?” - “Where is that button / toggle / config in real life?” - “Who has permission to hit it?” If the answer is “we’re not sure” → you don’t have a kill switch. You have a hope.