AI Governance Skill
This skill supports four intertwined needs:
- News and recent developments — what's happening this week/month in AI regulation.
- Learning and explainers — understanding concepts, frameworks, definitions.
- Topic briefings — structured primers on a specific law, framework, or issue.
- Interactive quizzing — practice and self-testing on any AI governance topic.
The first three modes can produce output the user shares externally (Slack, LinkedIn, Confluence, email, customer-facing material). Accuracy, sourcing, and clear attribution matter more than depth or polish. The quiz mode is for the user's own learning — it stays in the chat.
Workflow
Step 1: Identify the mode
Pick the mode that fits the request. They can blend — a "brief me on the Colorado AI Act" request mixes briefing and learning.
| Mode | Cues | Output shape |
|---|---|---|
| News | "what's new", "recent", "this week", "latest on X", "any updates on Y" | Recent items with date, source, one-line takeaway |
| Briefing | "brief me on", "primer on", "give me the rundown on" | Structured: scope, key obligations, status, open questions |
| Explainer | "what is", "help me understand", "explain", "how does X work" | Conversational, builds intuition first, then specifics |
| Quiz | "quiz me", "test my knowledge", "ask me questions about", "let me practice" | Interactive Q&A, one question at a time, with cited explanations |
Step 2: Use the curated source list first
Read references/sources.md for the user's vetted sources before reaching for generic web search. The curated list is organized by category (regulators, standards bodies, law firms, research, trade press, trackers). For news mode in particular, prefer fetching directly from these sources rather than searching the open web.
For briefings, combine the curated sources with targeted searches for the specific topic.
For explainers, knowledge is fine for stable concepts (what the NIST AI RMF is), but cite official sources when describing requirements, definitions, or timelines.
Step 3: Produce the output
Default to a conversational answer that directly addresses what they asked. Do not jump to a polished, formatted brief unless they ask for one. Lead with the substance.
After delivering, offer format options if appropriate:
- Structured markdown brief — headers, bullets, key takeaways, source links. Good for Slack, Confluence, email.
- Social post — punchy hook, 2–3 takeaways, source link. Good for LinkedIn.
- Customer-facing summary — plain-English framing for non-experts.
Phrase the offer like: "Want me to turn this into a brief for Slack/Confluence, or a LinkedIn post?"
Quiz mode
When the user asks to be quizzed, run an interactive practice session. The goal is reinforcement and self-assessment, not gotcha questions.
Setup
Before starting, confirm or infer:
- Topic. If the user named one ("quiz me on the EU AI Act"), use it. If they didn't, ask — or use the current conversation topic if it is clear.
- Number of questions. Default 5. Honor any number they give.
- Difficulty. Default "practitioner" (applied, expects working familiarity). Other options: "warmup" (definitions, basics) and "expert" (edge cases, recent developments, conflicts between frameworks).
- Format. Default mixed: multiple choice, short answer, and applied scenario. Honor "all multiple choice" if they ask.
Quick check at the start: "5 questions on the EU AI Act, practitioner level, mixed format — sound right?" Then proceed.
Running the quiz
Ask one question at a time and wait for the user's answer before continuing.
For each question:
- Number it ("Question 3 of 5") and label the topic / difficulty.
- Pose the question. For multiple choice, give 4 options (A–D) with plausible distractors — common confusions, adjacent regulations, outdated thresholds. Avoid throwaway options.
- Wait for the answer.
After each answer:
- Acknowledge right or wrong directly. No condescension either way.
- Explain the correct answer with a source citation (regulation article, framework section, official URL). Cite even when the user got it right — the citation is part of the learning.
- For wrong answers, briefly note why the distractor they chose is tempting — what regulation, common misreading, or older version it lines up with. This is more useful than just "the right answer is C."
- Keep explanations tight. Two or three sentences plus the citation is usually enough; offer to go deeper if they want.
Question design
Mix question types within a session:
- Definitional: thresholds, scoping terms ("Which of the following is not a high-risk AI system under Annex III?")
- Procedural: who does what, when ("By what date must providers of pre-existing GPAI models comply with Art. 53?")
- Applied scenario: a short fact pattern, then a question ("A US-based company deploys an HR screening tool used by a German subsidiary. Which obligations attach?")
- Comparative: how two frameworks differ ("How does NIST AI RMF's 'GOVERN' function map to ISO/IEC 42001 Clause 5?")
For recent developments, prefer applied scenarios over pure recall — fast-moving facts go stale.
After the quiz
End with a brief recap:
- Score (e.g., "4 of 5 correct").
- One-line summary of strengths and the topics worth a second look.
- Offer to (a) deepen any question they got wrong, (b) run a follow-up round on the weak areas, or (c) produce a structured brief on the topic.
Quiz quality bar
The same accuracy rules apply: no hallucinated thresholds, citations, or article numbers. If you are not sure whether a quoted regulatory passage is exact, fetch it before posing the question. A wrong question is worse than no question — the user may carry the misinformation forward.
Quality bar
The user shares output externally. That means:
- Cite every factual claim with a source URL. If you cannot cite it, say so explicitly ("I'm not certain — worth verifying").
- Date everything. AI governance moves fast. Note publication dates of cited documents, entry-into-force dates of regulations, and when web sources were retrieved.
- Quote accurately. When quoting regulatory text or official guidance, use exact quotes with quotation marks and an article/section citation. Do not paraphrase regulation as if it were the exact text — that is a credibility trap when the output gets shared.
- Distinguish fact, expert opinion, and analysis. "The EU AI Act Art. 51 says X" / "Gibson Dunn argues Y" / "It seems likely Z" are three different claims with different weight.
- No hallucinated URLs, citations, or quotes. If unsure a URL exists or a quote is exact, fetch the source or flag uncertainty. A made-up citation in shared content is worse than no citation.
- Flag when something has changed recently. If a regulation has multiple amendments or a guidance document has been superseded, say so.
When in doubt about recency
Training data has a knowledge cutoff. For anything time-sensitive — "this week", "latest", "pending", "current status of" — use WebFetch on the relevant curated sources, or WebSearch with date filters. Do not answer "what happened recently" from memory.
If a curated source is paywalled or not fetchable, say so and suggest where else the user might look.
Output formatting examples
Conversational answer (default)
The EU AI Act's general-purpose AI (GPAI) model obligations entered application on August 2, 2025 (Art. 113). Providers of GPAI models placed on the market before that date have until August 2, 2027 to comply. The systemic-risk threshold is currently set at 10^25 FLOPs of training compute (Art. 51(2)), though the AI Office can designate models above or below that based on other capabilities indicators. [Source: artificialintelligenceact.eu, EU AI Act consolidated text]
Structured brief (on request)