How to Navigate AI in an Ethical Way

Book review of “Everyday Ethical AI" by Karen Smiley - the missing guide for everyday people living in an AI-driven world to understand the risks and ethical considerations with many practical tips.

AI is everywhere these days with the majority of social media content being either written or influenced by generative AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini & Co. The imagery we see everywhere shows a mixed world as it is hard to spot the difference between generated and reality. But how can readers build trust with content creators when all we see is a sea of sameness?

Most books about AI show either the technical side like deep manuals or they celebrate the hype raving how easy life has become (hint: it hasn’t). What’s missing was a book that explains the everyday part of AI application in the view of regular families and individual who feel they’re left behind in a jungle of jargon for insiders.

This is where the book Everyday Ethical AI by Karen Smiley comes in; ideal for parents, founders and creators to stand out instead of hiding behind the average AI content machinery.

An AI expert speaking human language

Karen leans on her experience spanning 30 years in data and product leadership roles, having filed 14 patents in the US and delivered a range of publications about the ethical side of technology. Building own communities across her Substack newsletters (e.g. Everyday Ethical AI, She Writes AI) and her AI, Software, & Wetware podcast, Karen helps a non-technical audience understand what’s going on in the AI world.

In that sense she is an interpreter translating her technical depth into understandable chunks of relevant information for concerned families, caring parents, and curious professionals from solopreneurs to the corporate world.

A practical guide with remarkable structure

Her book Everyday Ethical AI starts with setting the scene on all things AI, followed by an introduction to AI Ethics which are “guiding principles on safety, security, human rights and justice, and environmental considerations.”

The core of the book are those three sections of five points each:

• Five Everyday AI and Data Risks

• Five Ethics Concerns In The AI Ecosystem

• Five Things We Can All Do

Under the ethical umbrella, this book balances risks and concerns with possibilities so that the readers can decide for themselves what makes most ethical sense for them.

Real life adaptability with ethical considerations

The practical approach of the third part turns this book from a reference to a guide for real life gains. As not all AI tools are the same, the book includes tips to figure out which AI tools you already use, even without knowing. Catering for those who want to bring their technical knowledge to the next level, the AI Terminology chapter comes quite handy.

Karen’s reflective questions with wakeup character raise awareness to uncover a hidden agenda behind AI tools (e.g. “How does the source benefit from saying that and advocating for it?”). The further practical steps include advice on how to protect your data, seek diverse voices on AI and define our own AI usage policy.

Useful quotes out of the book

This book is full of wisdom packaged for easy understanding with a range of sentences addressing our responsibility, such as:

“Even if you as the decision-maker use an AI tool to support your decision, you remain responsible for the decision.”

I also resonate with this quote about the workforce impact:

“As AI tools increasingly guide, rather than support, decisions, lack of human oversight raises the potential for biased decisions or liability risks.”

Finally, this is an example of the multiple comparison quotes in the book:

“Just like we as drivers need to understand basic road safety, fuel efficiency, and maintenance indicators, we as AI users need to grasp AI capabilities, limitations, risks, and ethical implications.”

Inspiration for fellow writers

As a published author myself, I admire the practical structure of three times five elements which Karen followed with consistency. This clear pattern with its predictable rhythm guides the readers and provides space to breathe while reinforcing learning in structure.

The other remarkable element for me is translating Karen’s proven expertise into a language understood by her less technical audience, especially family members across generations who don’t have her background.

Very helpful are also the green boxes with quotes from other sources like Gallup and other reputable publications.

Final verdict

AI is still a mystery for so many people, especially those not working directly in tech. The book Everyday Ethical AI arrived at the right time when the world starts doubting the hype while many organisations are applying AI in well-articulated use cases to improve their business.

If you want to find an ethical way to use AI with confidence and responsibility in mind, this book will be your guide without losing your values or privacy.

Q&A with Karen Smiley

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

When I started writing on Substack in early 2024, I already had ideas and partial drafts on 3 other AI book topics that I felt were not well covered yet. I’ve been on a mission with AI ethics in everyday life since leaving corporate life, because the hype from the 8-figure tech bros has been taking up all of the oxygen about AI.

In August 2024, I started a podcast and I’ve been interviewing people about how they use AI & data and how they feel about AI tools using their data. I’ve heard some great stories about how people are using AI well. The interviews also highlighted that a lot of people simply don’t know about the risks they’re taking or how society is being harmed; all of the hype tends to drown those concerns. And other folks I interviewed were aware of the ethical and legal risks and hesitating to use AI when it could help them.

So in March 2025, I wrote a long-form article about the ethical risks of AI. The responses I received convinced me that expanding the article into a book could help lots of people learn to cope with the risks of AI, including folks outside of the world of Substack.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

About 6 months, from mid-March to eBook release on Sept. 14. A lot of that time was me learning all of the mechanics of self-publishing and setting up my own imprint & business. My second book should be quicker! But I think some of that time will come back on ARC reviews, so it might end up about the same.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I’d worked in AI engineering for many years before I started writing about AI full-time. I’ve been analyzing data with software for my entire career, ever since I was an undergraduate research assistant for two of my engineering professors. And I first studied AI decades ago when getting my MS degree in Computer Science. While I was working in Corporate Research, I wrote over 40 papers and presentations, many about applications of machine learning, such as for solar power inverters.

I still learn new things every week and day from other Substack writers, especially about the impact on creative people and the environment. So for the most part, I “wrote what I know”. My Everyday Ethical AI book has over 400 references, and more than 60 of them point to Substack articles. We have such a great AI community here!

I also want to publicly credit Rebecca Mbaya for her contributions on decolonization of AI and data, and Deborah Reynolds (“The Data Diva”) for her foreword which highlights the data privacy aspects addressed in the book.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Keeping the book as current as possible while the world of AI is changing daily. For example, I wrote about the pending class action lawsuits against the AI companies. On 5^th of September 2025, Anthropic announced a tentative $1.5b settlement. That felt important enough to squeeze in before I clicked Submit to send the manuscript to Amazon!

To help buyers of my book to have the latest info, I’ve set up a bonus resources page on my www.everydayethicalAI.com website, and I’ll post new references there as they come up. And of course, in the book I invite buyers to subscribe to my free AI newsletters.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Oh, lots of lessons learned. I probably need to write an article about it 😊. Start with Word instead of Google docs, so I can set up the first page and next page headers and footers and the endnotes the right way from the start. Use BookFunnel from the beginning to handle sharing ARC copies with people.

Next time I’ll start lining up ARC reviewers sooner, make sure I start sooner with the cover designer, and budget for proof copies. And I’d start sketching the marketing materials up front. It’s like planning a potential new software product and writing the press release first. It’s so helpful to make sure we can articulate the vision and the benefits from a customer’s perspective before we dive into building it for them. Readers are our customers!

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Mostly my goal is for people to pick up a copy of the eBook or book and read it, and realize that they don’t have to be afraid of AI or feel helpless about the big AI companies exploiting us and the earth. I am keeping the book under $5 USD, so hopefully cost won’t be a barrier. The outcome I want is for more people to know how to protect their families and businesses, and how to take advantage of the power of AI without unknowingly taking too many big risks. There are so many things we can DO, individually and collectively.

One outcome that I didn’t expect is the book being used in workshops and classes. I’ve already used it as a reference for a workshop I led for Rebecca Mbaya to guide people on writing their own AI use policies. And a friend and reviewer who is a university professor asked to use my book and workshop materials for her business ethics class. I love that.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Hmm. I don’t have any specific advice for fiction writers. For nonfiction, if you’re writing about a fast-moving topic like AI, look for ways to keep readers current after you publish, and get the book out quickly, but don’t skip the ARC reviews.

In general, I’d say: take advantage of the expertise available on Substack, from people like Fleur Hull who have helped many others with their books, to other writers who have been through the book publishing process before. For instance, Stella Fosse has a book on writing that’s really intended to help people to write romance novels about well-seasoned characters, but so much of the advice in her book is good for any type of novel.

And right as I heard from someone in Mexico that she had trouble buying my book on Amazon, you kindly gave me that timely tip on using mybook.to for sharing a universal link that would work for people in all countries. I appreciate that!

We have an amazing, supportive community of writers on Substack, and I’m so grateful to have found folks here. Either my book wouldn’t have happened yet without this support, or it would have been a lot more painful and less successful. My book was the #1 Top New Release in Science & Math Ethics all during its launch week, and it was the #2 best-seller in that category overall (behind a Pulitzer Prize finalist). I don’t think that would have happened without the support I found here.

Karen Smiley: “Everyday Ethical AI”, Six Peas Press 2025, ISBN 979-8-9996096-2-5 (Paperback) or 979-8-9996096-1-8 (eBook) or 979-8-9996096-3-2 (Hardcover)

More about the book and author: www.everydayethicalai.com and https://mybook.to/everydayethicalai