The ownership question

Your work should stay yours

A repeatable framework for maintaining intellectual ownership when working with AI. Not detection. Not policing. A practice of stewardship.

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20 questions · 5 minutes · Instant scored report

"Is this actually my work?"

Every person using generative AI faces this question. Most ignore it. The Epistemic Stewardship Framework gives you a structured, honest answer, every time. Five interconnected practices that embed integrity into your process, not after it.

Five practices
01

Position Statement

Document your direction, stance, and non-negotiables before engaging AI. Know where you stand so the machine can't move you.

02

Five Questions Checklist

At every decision point: Can you defend it? Do you own it? Can you verify it? Could you teach it? Are you being honest?

03

Records of Resistance

Log every time you reject, revise, or override an AI suggestion. Resistance is evidence of thought.

04

AI Use Log

Track which tools you used, what you prompted, what came back, and what you changed. Transparency as methodology.

05

Disclosure Statement

A clear accounting of AI versus human contribution. Not a confession. A professional standard.

Free assessment

How ready is your organization?

Take the ESF Readiness Assessment to get a scored report across five stewardship categories with tailored recommendations.

Start the Assessment
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20 questions
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5 category scores
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Actionable recommendations
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Shareable report
Built for people who care about their craft

Educators & Researchers

Teach students to use AI without losing their voice. Integrate stewardship into curriculum and institutional policy.

Writers & Designers

Maintain creative ownership when AI is part of your workflow. Prove the work is yours, to yourself and to clients.

Developers & Consultants

Deliver client work with a clear audit trail. Show exactly where AI assisted and where your expertise led.

ESF Companion

Proactive

Embedded in your workflow from the start. Ownership is the process, not an afterthought.

Domain-agnostic

Works for writing, research, design, code, consulting. Any field where AI meets human judgment.

Builds habits

Five repeatable practices that become second nature. Stewardship as muscle memory.

Open source

CC BY 4.0. Use it, adapt it, teach with it. No vendor lock-in.

AI Detection Tools

Reactive

Only flags problems after submission. Catches symptoms, not causes.

Adversarial

Positions AI use as cheating. Creates suspicion instead of ownership.

Unreliable

High false positive rates. Non-native English writers disproportionately flagged.

Closed

Proprietary scoring algorithms. Trust the black box or get flagged.

The question was never whether to use AI. It was whether the work would still be yours when you did.

Epistemic Stewardship Framework, by Nathan Madrid

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