The 5-Minute Family AI Safety Kit
The short answer: this is a one-page sheet for the fridge or the phone table. Fill it out together over coffee. It holds a family safe word, three golden rules, what to ask a chatbot and what never to type, what to do if a scam gets through, and your emergency contacts. It is free, and you do not need to sign up to get it.
Download the free PDF1 page, US Letter. Prints fine in black and white.
What is on the sheet
- Our family safe word. A big box to write a secret word or phrase. If someone calls in a panic, claiming to be your child or grandchild, you ask for the word. A scammer can copy a voice, but cannot know the word.
- Three golden rules. Never share private information with an AI. Check before you act on medical, money, or legal advice. Treat urgent calls as suspicious, and call the person back on a number you already trust.
- If it happens anyway. Stop, call your bank on the number on the back of your card, tell your family, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
- Safe to ask, never type. Four easy things to ask a chatbot, such as “Explain this word in simple terms,” and four things to keep out of every chat: Social Security numbers, passwords or one-time codes, bank or full card numbers, and your home address.
- Emergency contacts. Space for two family members, a doctor, a pharmacy, your bank, and the local non-emergency police line.
How to use it, step by step
- Print it. One page is all you need. If you have no printer, a library or local print shop can do it.
- Pick a safe word together. Choose something easy for you to remember and hard for a stranger to guess. Avoid anything posted online, like a pet’s name or a street.
- Write it in, then tick who knows it. Say it out loud once, so nobody has to rely on the paper.
- Read the chatbot box together. Try one of the four questions, and agree on the things nobody types into a chatbot.
- Fill in the contacts. Copy the bank’s number from the back of your card, not from a search result.
- Put it where you will see it. The fridge, or near the phone. Change the word now and then, and any time it may have been shared.
What to say to a worried parent: “It is just a family password for phone calls. If anyone ever calls asking for money and sounds like me, ask for the word. If they do not know it, hang up and call me back.”
Learn more
- How to spot an AI voice scam, including more on the family safe word.
- Where to start: staying safe with AI.
- Words I keep hearing, a plain-English guide to terms like deepfake and voice cloning.