The Sticker Test

Five questions that tell you whether your AI disclosure policy gives a reader anything to check.

Run it against the policy you have, in one sitting. Score each question 0 (no), 1 (partially), 2 (yes, and a reader could check it). The test ends in a word you can say in the meeting.

Only want the card? Skip to the download. It is the same blank card for every reader, and you do not have to work through the tool first.

1The named model

When a piece of work discloses AI, does it name the specific model, the tools it ran inside and a version for each, or does it say "AI was used"?

A pass is something a reader can look up. "AI" covers everything from a 22 per cent hallucination rate to a 94 per cent one.

0 · "AI was used"1 · Tool named, no version2 · Model, tools, versions

2The checking line

Does the disclosure say what was checked, against what, and by whom? (The source opened, the figure recalculated, the case tested.)

This is the line that bounds how far the work can be relied on. The tick box has never carried it, in either position.

0 · Nothing on checking1 · "Reviewed by a human"2 · What, against what, by whom

3The other column

Does work with no AI in it get asked the same checking question? Or does ticking "no" end the conversation?

A human explanation is composed after the decision too. A policy that interrogates one column and waves the other through is running a double standard.

0 · "No" ends it1 · Sometimes, informally2 · Same question, both columns

4The upstream question

Where does your organisation ask what a model was trained on: of the person at the keyboard, or of the vendor, in procurement, with an indemnity attached?

The person at the keyboard cannot answer it. A pass is a contract clause, not a checkbox.

0 · Nobody asks1 · Asked of staff2 · Asked of the vendor, in the contract

5The placement

Where does the disclosure sit: a banner at the top that sets the reader's prejudice before the first word, or a reachable line at the end, or a link?

A front-of-document badge manufactures the disclosure penalty on purpose. A pass lets the reader assess the work first and interrogate the pipeline second.

0 · Banner at the top1 · Buried, unreachable2 · Reachable, at the end or linked

Verdict

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Answer all five questions.

8–10 · ingredients list: a reader can dig. 4–7 · label: it names something, and stops short of anything checkable. 0–3 · sticker: it tells a reader which prejudice to apply and nothing else.

One boundary, honestly: this test scores the disclosure, and a disclosure says nothing about whether the work is any good. Provenance and quality are different questions, and a perfect ingredients list can sit on a bad piece of work.