Frame
Write the task as one sentence: who it is for, what is needed, by when.
Everyday AI · Singapore
The Everyday Loop, written once and reused.
Four numbered passes, three spoken checks, five ladder levels, twelve everyday tasks. The same structure on every programme.
A method that can be read on a card does not depend on a particular screen, login or brand.
Why the loop
Assistants change their menus. Phones are replaced. A child sets up an account and later the password is forgotten. What we can teach, and what we can put on paper, is a short sequence that still works when the surface of the tool has moved. The Everyday Loop is that sequence: Frame, Ask, Check, Keep. It is used on the foundation course and on every later programme, so that a card written in October still matches the room in November.
The loop is numbered because a session must be able to stop. If pass 1 does not produce a sentence with a verb and a deadline, we do not open the assistant. If pass 3, check (c), is a yes — money, a code, a document — the loop ends there, even if the wording looks polite. Numbered passes make that stop a visible act, not a feeling in the room.
We keep the language structural on purpose. “Be careful” does not tell a learner which line to write. “Write who it is for, what is needed, by when” does. The same is true of the three checks: they are questions that can be said out loud in under a minute, which is why they are scheduled after the tea break on every two-hour timetable.
Nothing in the method requires a learner to describe themselves as technical. The first hour of the foundation course is watching and copying. Adapting names and dates is the usual close of that programme. Composing a new request unaided is the close of the specialist programmes. Coaching someone else is reserved for refresher clinics.
Four passes
The table is the contract of the room. The diagram is the same content in the order it is taught. We check pass 1 before anyone types; we check pass 3 before anyone copies a line onto a card.
Ask
Put the sentence to the assistant, add one line of context and say what shape the answer should take.
Check
Read the answer against three tests before using it. All three tests are done out loud.
Keep
Copy the wording that worked onto a personal card, legible without the computer.
| Pass | Name | What the learner does | What we check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frame | Write the task as one sentence: who it is for, what is needed, by when | The sentence contains a verb and a deadline |
| 2 | Ask | Put the sentence to the assistant, add one line of context and say what shape the answer should take | No private details in the request |
| 3 | Check | Read the answer against three tests before using it | All three tests done out loud |
| 4 | Keep | Copy the wording that worked onto a personal card | Card is legible without the computer |
If check (c) is yes, the loop ends. We do not “edit around” a request for money, a code or a document.
The three checks
Pass 3 is not a mood. It is three questions, always in this order, spoken so that the rest of the table can hear the stop if it comes. The studio keeps a folder of prepared wrong answers — a clinic message that invents a dosage, a plan comparison that invents a price, an SMS reply that asks for a code — and uses one of them after the tea break. Learners are not asked to catch a live assistant out; they are asked to run the tests.
The three checks (pass 3): (a) Does this match something I already know? (b) Can I open the source or confirm it elsewhere? (c) Is it asking me to send money, a code, or a document? If (c) is yes — stop, the loop ends here.
Check (a) uses knowledge the learner already has: a grandchild’s name, the day of an appointment, the look of a bill. Check (b) is a second window, a paper letter, a tariff sheet, or a call to the organisation named in the message — not another assistant. Check (c) is binary. A polite sentence that asks for a one-time code is still a stop.
Five levels, used twice
The confidence ladder places a learner at the start of a programme and closes each session. It is not a certificate. A person may be at L3 on family messages and L1 on a clinic letter in the same week. Refresher clinics are the only format that aims at L4.
| Level | Name | Learner does | Usual point reached |
|---|---|---|---|
| L0 | Watching | Follows a demonstration, asks questions | Session 1, first hour |
| L1 | Copying | Types a card word for word and gets a usable answer | Session 1–2 |
| L2 | Adapting | Changes names, dates and details on a card | Session 2–3 |
| L3 | Composing | Writes a new request unaided and applies the three checks | Session 3–4 |
| L4 | Coaching | Explains the loop to someone else and spots their mistakes | Refresher clinics |
- L0 · Watching
The tablet is in someone else’s hands. Questions are about the card, not about the brand of the tool.
- L1 · Copying
The learner types the framed sentence exactly. A usable answer is enough; elegance is not required.
- L2 · Adapting
Names, dates and the “by when” line change. The skeleton of the card stays.
- L3 · Composing
A new task is framed without a model card, then checked out loud.
- L4 · Coaching
The learner watches another person miss a check and names the miss.
Twelve everyday tasks
These are the tasks the programmes are built from. The assistant may draft, list, compare wording or suggest a shape. It must not decide treatment, legal action, a payment, or whether a message is “safe” in place of a check. The last column is the programme that carries the task as a taught card.
| Task | Where the assistant helps | What it must not decide | Taught in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messaging family | Draft a short message in a stated tone and length | Whether the family matter is “resolved” | The Everyday Loop; Messages that land |
| Replying to a landlord or contractor | Turn notes into a dated reply with one ask | Whether to accept a quote or a notice | Messages that land |
| Reading an official letter | List the actions, dates and who is writing | What the letter “really means” in law | Clinic visits and official letters |
| Preparing questions before a clinic visit | Turn symptoms and history into a question list | Diagnosis, dosage or whether to skip a visit | Clinic visits and official letters |
| Checking a suspicious SMS or call-back number | Name the urgency, payment and secrecy cues | That a number or link is harmless | Scam-check studio |
| Comparing two utility or mobile plans | Line up stated prices, terms and dates from your papers | Which plan you should buy | Household numbers and plans |
| Writing a complaint | Structure facts, dates and the remedy you want | Whether the complaint will succeed | Messages that land |
| Sorting and labelling photos | Suggest folder names and captions from your labels | Who is in a photo, if you are unsure | Photos, translation and outings |
| Translating a menu or notice | Give a plain-English rendering of posted text | Allergy or legal meaning without a check | Photos, translation and outings |
| Planning an outing with timings | Draft a timed outline from your constraints | Live transport or weather as fact | Photos, translation and outings |
| Drafting a short speech for a family event | Shape a timed draft from your points | What you “ought” to say about a person | Photos, translation and outings |
| Keeping a simple monthly expense note | Tabulate figures you supply from receipts | Whether you can afford a purchase | Household numbers and plans |
Safety rails
The six rails are issued on the loop card in session 1 of every programme. They are not slogans; they are stop conditions. Rule 3 is taught in the first hour because payment, urgency and secrecy are the usual costume of a harmful message. Rule 5 keeps clinic, legal and money decisions with the professional the learner already has.
1 Never type an NRIC, passport, bank or card number into an assistant.
2 Never enter a one-time code, password or login anywhere an assistant suggests.
3 Treat any request for payment, urgency or secrecy as a stop sign.
4 Assume the answer may be wrong until one of the three checks passes.
5 Medical, legal and money decisions stay with the professional — the assistant only helps you prepare questions.
6 Keep one paper card per task, so the method survives a lost phone.
Use the loop on a named programme
The foundation course teaches passes 1–4 on a family message. Specialist programmes reuse the loop on letters, clinic questions, scam checks, photos and household figures. Tool reference shows how a card is laid out before anyone sits down.