The name
Inquiry, not blind trust
Skeptia is drawn from the Greek sképsis — inquiry, examination, the disposition to look carefully before accepting. It is the opposite of blind trust, and equally the opposite of blind rejection.
Flagship project
Youth & AI
Skeptia: Youth & AI
Helping young people use AI without losing the habits of mind that make them capable.
What Skeptia is
Workshop-based, grounded in real methods
Skeptia is a workshop-based program for young people, with parallel formats for educators. It assumes young people will use AI tools and focuses on helping them do so without weakening their own judgment.
The program is not built on generic AI-literacy material. It adapts methods from intelligence analysis and structured investigations — fields that exist precisely to handle information of uncertain provenance — and translates those methods into age-appropriate, scenario-based exercises.
The problem
Cognitive enfeeblement
AI tools are arriving in classrooms and bedrooms faster than the habits to use them well. The most common harm isn't that students trust obviously bad AI. It's that they stop doing the cognitive work at all:
- Summaries replace reading.
- Chatbots replace working a problem through.
- Confident-sounding outputs replace the small act of verification.
- Conversational tools replace talking to an actual person.
None of this shows up immediately in grades. It shows up later, as weakened reasoning, shallower understanding, and a quiet loss of the ability to evaluate the outputs students now depend on. Countering it is Skeptia's core purpose.
The framework
Portable methods students can apply fast
- 5W1H for AI outputs. A short, portable set of questions students can apply in under a minute.
- Source and reliability assessment. Lightweight versions of standards used in intelligence analysis translated into practical habits.
- Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH), simplified. A habit of holding more than one possible explanation before committing to one.
- Human-in-the-loop as a habit. When to accept an AI output, when to verify it, when to refuse it, and when to bring a human into the loop on purpose.
Workshop structure
Three phases
Format: three phases over 60 to 120 minutes, depending on context.
Audience: roughly 13–25; parallel sessions available for educators.
Approach: scenario-based, discussion-led, with live use of AI tools in the room.
- Phase 1 — Analog. Establish a baseline of human reasoning.
- Phase 2 — AI-assisted. Use AI tools and audit outputs.
- Phase 3 — Human-in-the-loop. Compare phases and draft a short code of conduct.
Who we work with
Schools + youth organisations
Skeptia is designed for schools, youth organisations, after-school programs, public libraries, and community groups. We are particularly interested in working with organisations serving young people who may have less adult support in navigating new technologies.
To host a workshop, write to [email].
Contact us →Bring Skeptia to your school or organisation
To host a Skeptia workshop, or to discuss a longer engagement, staff training, or partnership, write to [email].
Contact us →