Everyday AI · Module 4

Handle conflicts and gaps without guessing

Suggested time: 8 minutes.

Two records can each look convincing while disagreeing. Your job is to explain the conflict and what would resolve it. Choosing the answer that appears first, appears most often or sounds most convenient does not settle the evidence.

Snapshot L4 Two schedule records

Complete fictional source:

• L4-A, planning group's schedule draft, dated 2 June 2025: Welcome begins at 09:00. Approval is not recorded. No revision time is recorded.
• L4-B, planning group's schedule draft, dated 2 June 2025: Welcome begins at 09:30. Approval is not recorded. No revision time is recorded.
• L4-C, record note: These are the only schedule records supplied. Neither is marked as replacing the other.

Claim: “The welcome starts at 09:30.”

Weak review:

“Supported, because L4-B is listed last.”

Better review:

“Unresolved. L4-A gives 09:00 and L4-B gives 09:30. Both are unapproved drafts with the same date; there is no replacement instruction. A confirmed schedule is needed.”

Do not average the times, assume a vote between documents or use a confident AI answer to break the tie.

When a later record does resolve a conflict

This is a separate miniature snapshot:

• L4-D, earlier approved note, dated 2 June 2025: The welcome is five minutes long.
• L4-E, coordinator's approved correction, dated 3 June 2025: Replace the previous five-minute welcome with a three-minute welcome. This correction replaces L4-D.

“The approved welcome length is three minutes” is supported by L4-E. The authority and explicit replacement resolve the conflict. The date helps establish the sequence; the date alone is not the reason for accepting it.

Missing evidence is not a negative event

“The notes do not name a welcome reader” supports “Reader not provided in these notes.” It does not establish “Nobody has been assigned.” Someone may have made an assignment elsewhere.

When evidence is missing, choose a useful next step:

• Keep a visible “unresolved” label in the working draft.
• Remove an unnecessary unsupported statement.
• Request a specific missing record or clarification before using a consequential fact.

You can prepare the question without sending it. “Which approved schedule should we use?” is more useful than “Can someone confirm everything?” Do not appoint an owner or promise a reply date that the records do not provide.

For this course, all questions remain in your notebook. A checked practice draft does not authorise real outreach or event decisions.

Pause: A draft from today conflicts with yesterday's approval, but does not say it replaces that approval. Is the draft automatically authoritative?