What a real choice is
A real choice is one where you saw the alternatives, understood them, and decided for yourself.
Nothing about a real choice is automatic. Use these five tests:
- There were real options. The alternatives were truly different, and you could also ask for something else.
- You could see them. You saw enough detail to judge each option, and you saw the reasons for it.
- You used your own judgment. Your taste, your experience or your convictions decided it.
- You can defend it. You can say why this one and not the others.
- It changed the work. The work is different because of what you decided.
A real choice can still accept what the AI suggested. If you weighed the alternatives and the suggestion was best, the choice is yours. The test is what happened in you, not who proposed the option.
Not every decision needs this. Most small decisions should go to the AI. A person has limited attention, so the skill is to know which choices are yours and to spend your attention there.