Values-Conflict Worksheet

Use with Use AI to Clarify Values Without Asking It What You Should Value.

Not for crisis decisions, decisions made under coercion, or regulated decisions with legal or professional requirements attached.

Step 1: Name your values, unaided

Before opening any AI tool, write 3-5 values relevant to this decision, in your own words:

Step 2: Describe the decision you are leaning toward

Step 3: Test consistency with AI

Prompt template:

I am trying to decide between [option A] and [option B]. Here is what
I've told myself matters to me: [your list from Step 1]. Do not give me
a recommendation or supply a value. First, offer optional labels for
the tensions already present in my own description, each tied to the
words I used. I will accept, reject, or rewrite those labels. Then ask
which value I would protect first if I truly had to choose only one,
and wait for my answer before saying anything else.

Step 4: Name the conflict plainly

The two values actually in tension here are:

• ____________________ vs. ____________________

Step 5: Weigh it yourself

Which value am I choosing to weight more heavily this time, and why?

Step 6: Document and say it out loud

• Date: ____________________
• My decision and reasoning: ____________________
• Person I said this out loud to before acting: ____________________

What AI can and cannot do here