{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/write-your-rationale-before-asking-ai-for-a-recommendation",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0376",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Write your rationale before asking AI for a recommendation",
  "summary": "Give the model something to extend before you give it permission to steer.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Write your current options, reasons, constraints and uncertainty before asking AI for help. Then provide that rationale and ask the model to identify missing considerations, tensions or implications. This preserves your decision model as an inspectable object and makes AI support easier to compare with your own thinking.",
  "limits": [
    "For unfamiliar domains, your initial rationale may be weak; the exercise preserves ownership but does not make your premises correct."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-ai-assisted-thinking-work"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-86C1F814F0644FAE"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "The ExtendAI study found that AI support built on participants' own rationales integrated better into their decision process and produced slightly better outcomes than a recommendation-centric condition in the tested task.",
      "source_id": "RS-86C1F814F0644FAE",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The study involved one complex investment decision task and does not establish that rationale-first AI is always superior.",
      "locator": "Abstract results"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "You face a complex decision and asking for an AI recommendation first could anchor the rest of your thinking."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "For unfamiliar domains, your initial rationale may be weak; the exercise preserves ownership but does not make your premises correct."
  ],
  "example": "Before asking AI whether to buy a tool, write the actual workflow, compatibility constraints and exit costs, then ask what you may have missed.",
  "check": "You can identify what the AI added or challenged because your pre-AI rationale still exists.",
  "steps": [
    "You can identify what the AI added or challenged because your pre-AI rationale still exists."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-86C1F814F0644FAE",
      "title": "AI, Help Me Think—but for Myself: Assisting People in Complex Decision-Making by Providing Different Kinds of Cognitive Support",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/ai-help-me-think-but-for-myself-assisting-people-in-complex-decision-making-by-providing-different-kinds-of-cognitive-support/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0376",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0377",
      "type": "use_before",
      "url": "/knowledge/ask-ai-to-extend-the-reasoning-not-only-answer-it"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-433FB61AA7D7AF43",
      "title": "Use AI where it helps, and keep the thinking that still matters",
      "url": "/collections/use-ai-where-it-helps-and-keep-the-thinking-that-still-matters"
    }
  ]
}