Before AI Decides

Artificial intelligence is no longer arriving. It is already deciding.

From what news we see to how we are evaluated at work, to who qualifies for housing, healthcare, or opportunity, intelligent systems now shape daily life quietly and at scale.

Most people experience AI not as a machine, but as ease. Convenience. Efficiency. Help.
That ease is not neutral.

BEFORE AI DECIDES is a field guide for living inside systems that increasingly make decisions for us.

Drawing on decades of experience in science, technology, and public communication, Payson R. Stevens shows how power shifts when speed outruns human judgment, and how human agency can be restored where choices disappear.

The Nine Pillars offer practical principles for keeping responsibility, dignity, and democratic choice visible as AI grows more powerful.

“Brings rare clarity to one of the defining challenges of our time.”
Erik Viirre, MD, PhD, UC San Diego

“A clear-eyed wake-up call about protecting human judgment in an automated world.”
Anne Leer, AI Policy and Governance Expert

“A clear, grounded way to keep human intelligence alive and amplified.”
Jessica Seddon, PhD, Yale Jackson School

“An essential framework for safeguarding our rights and humanity.”
Charles M. Levine, former Vice President, Random House