Before you start

Key information

• What it is: an independent research study, run by Tim Wickham, on why some people get real results from AI at work and others don't. It is not run or paid for by any employer, university or AI company.
• What you do: answer 6 short questions, paste a research prompt into your own AI (your AI provider's own terms cover that chat), read the report it writes, remove anything you don't want to share, and upload it. About 15 to 20 minutes.
• Voluntary: taking part is your choice. There is no payment. You can stop at any point, and delete your submission with your private code until findings are published.
• What we keep: your answers, the report you upload, and which of two versions of the home page you saw. Answers to an earlier version of the questions (from pilot testers) are kept and analysed separately. We don't ask for your name, and we don't store your IP address. If you sign up for study updates, your email goes in a separate list, and the researcher never tries to match it to your answers or report.
• Risks: low. The main one is that a report could reveal something about you, your employer or a colleague. You check it before uploading. Then the researcher, helped by an AI tool (Claude, with training switched off), checks it again and removes identifying details before analysis.
• No right answers: "I rarely use AI" is as useful to this study as an expert's answer. If you know Tim, he may be able to guess which report is yours; every report is treated the same way.
• If you know Tim through work: taking part is up to you. Whether you take part, and what your report says, won't affect any work relationship with him, and he won't ask anyone whether they took part.
• Benefits: you keep the report your AI writes about how you work with AI. It may not be accurate, and there's no other benefit or payment.
• How it's used: for research only, including an academic paper. Results are published only as totals or paraphrased examples that don't identify anyone. Your data is never sold.
• Questions: use the contact page.

Consent version 2.5. The full details are on the study information page.