Ethical Resources creates clear, practical resources that help professionals and small business owners understand ethical responsibilities and apply them to real decisions.
Our current work focuses primarily on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in professional practice. We translate broad concerns about privacy, confidentiality, accuracy, fairness, transparency and accountability into questions, tools and learning materials that people can use in their everyday work.
AI is developing quickly, but practical guidance has not always kept pace. Professionals are often presented with conflicting messages. Some sources portray AI as an answer to almost every business problem, while others focus almost entirely on its risks. Ethical Resources offers a more balanced approach. We recognise the genuine benefits of AI while helping people think carefully about where, when and how it should be used.
Our purpose is not to make AI appear frightening or unnecessarily complicated. It is to help people move forward with greater clarity, confidence and professional judgement.
Ethical Resources grew from a simple observation: people are being encouraged to use AI before many have been given a practical way to understand their responsibilities.
Advice about AI is everywhere, but it is often highly technical, overly general or difficult to apply. A professional may be told to protect confidentiality without being shown what that means when writing a prompt. A business owner may be warned about AI risk without knowing how to assess a proposed task. Removing a name may be presented as sufficient protection even when the remaining details could still identify someone.
This creates an uncomfortable gap between enthusiasm and understanding. People may avoid AI because they are afraid of making a mistake, or begin using it without recognising the decisions that require greater care.
Ethical Resources was created to help close that gap.
We provide structured ways to pause, ask better questions and make a more informed decision before information is entered, content is published or an AI generated answer is used. Our resources are designed to make ethical thinking part of ordinary professional practice rather than something considered only after a problem has occurred.
Our purpose is to make ethics understandable, practical and usable.
Ethics is sometimes presented as a dry academic subject or a collection of rules. In practice, ethics is about people. It influences how information is handled, how power is exercised, how decisions are explained and whether another person’s privacy, dignity and trust are protected.
Ethical practice does not always provide one perfect answer. Professionals and business owners frequently need to balance several legitimate interests. They may need to consider efficiency alongside accuracy, innovation alongside privacy, or business goals alongside the possible effects on customers, clients, employees and the wider community.
Our resources are designed to support that process. They help users identify what information is involved, who may be affected, what could go wrong, what level of verification is required and who remains responsible for the outcome.
Ethical Resources takes a balanced and practical approach to AI.
We do not believe AI should be accepted uncritically, but we also do not believe it should automatically be feared or rejected. AI can support research, planning, communication, administration, creativity and access to information. Used well, it can save time and help people perform aspects of their work more effectively.
These benefits do not make every use appropriate.
The suitability of an AI task depends on its purpose, the information involved, the reliability of the tool, the people who may be affected and the possible consequences if something goes wrong. A low risk use for generating general ideas is very different from using AI with confidential information or relying on it to influence an important professional decision.
We therefore encourage people to assess the particular use rather than making broad assumptions about AI as a whole.
The important question is not simply whether AI is good or bad. The more useful question is whether this particular use can be justified and what safeguards are needed to make it responsible.
Ethical Resources begins with the decision a person is trying to make.
Technical information can be important, but it is not always the most useful starting point. A professional does not necessarily need to understand how a large language model is constructed before recognising that confidential information should not be entered into an unsuitable system.
People first need to understand what they are being asked to decide. What is the purpose of the task? What information would be entered? Could someone still be identified? How serious would an inaccurate answer be? Does the person reviewing the output have enough knowledge to recognise a mistake? Would AI involvement need to be disclosed?
Once those questions are clear, technical information becomes easier to understand because it has a practical context.
This decision first approach is central to the way Ethical Resources develops its tools and educational material.
Protecting confidentiality is one of the most immediate concerns for professionals using generative AI.
It is common to assume that information becomes anonymous once a person’s name has been removed. In many circumstances, this is not enough. A combination of age, occupation, location, health history, family circumstances or distinctive experiences may still make a person recognisable.
Confidentiality therefore requires consideration of the whole picture. It also requires attention to the type of AI tool being used, how submitted information may be handled and whether the task could be completed with fictional, generalised or less sensitive information.
Ethical Resources helps users examine these questions before entering information. The aim is not simply to tell people what they cannot do. It is to help them redesign tasks so they can gain appropriate benefits from AI without creating unnecessary privacy or confidentiality risks.
AI can assist with a task, but it cannot accept professional or organisational responsibility for the outcome.
An AI system may produce a polished answer that is incomplete, biased, outdated or incorrect. The confidence of the language does not prove the reliability of the information. Someone must still decide whether the tool was appropriate, whether the information was suitable to enter, whether the output has been adequately checked and whether it is safe to use.
Human oversight must therefore be meaningful. A person should have enough knowledge, time and authority to question, correct or reject an AI generated result.
This is especially important when an output may affect another person’s safety, rights, reputation, opportunities, finances or access to services. The more serious the possible consequences, the stronger the need for verification, documentation and accountable human judgement.
Ethical Resources does not present AI as a substitute for professional expertise. We focus on helping people determine where AI can provide useful assistance and where human knowledge, caution or specialist advice must take priority.
Ethical principles have little value if people cannot apply them when a decision must be made.
Words such as privacy, fairness, transparency and accountability are important, but they can remain abstract unless they are connected to practical actions. A person needs to know what to examine, what questions to ask and when to pause or seek further advice.
For this reason, Ethical Resources develops decision trees, screening tools, introductory guides and structured learning materials. Each resource is intended to turn a broad ethical responsibility into a more manageable process.
This may involve identifying whether information is personal or confidential, considering whether a person could be reidentified, classifying the initial level of risk, checking important claims or deciding whether an AI assisted task requires disclosure.
The aim is to create resources that can be understood without technical expertise while still respecting the complexity of professional responsibility.
Many people do not need more encouragement to use AI. They need a clearer understanding of how to use it responsibly.
Uncertainty can lead to two very different reactions. Some people avoid AI altogether because the risks feel confusing. Others proceed too quickly because the tool appears simple and the answer sounds convincing.
Neither reaction provides a reliable foundation for professional use.
Confidence should come from understanding the purpose of the task, recognising its risks, knowing what safeguards are required and being able to explain the final decision. This is more sustainable than confidence based on enthusiasm, habit or the assumption that a popular tool must be safe.
Ethical Resources aims to replace vague anxiety with informed caution and replace uncritical use with considered practice.
Our resources are created for the moments when a professional or business owner needs to decide what to do next.
The AI Confidentiality Decision Tree helps users consider whether information is suitable to paste, upload, photograph, record or dictate into an AI system.
The AI Stoplight Test provides a quick initial classification of a proposed AI task as lower risk, uncertain or unsuitable.
Before You Paste introduces the privacy and confidentiality questions that should be considered before information is entered into a generative AI tool.
AI Risk Assessment Foundations for Professionals provides a broader introduction to privacy, confidentiality, accuracy, human oversight, transparency and accountability.
These resources do not guarantee that every AI use will be safe, lawful or professionally appropriate. They provide structured educational support for recognising concerns and making more informed decisions. Professional obligations can differ according to a person’s role, industry, jurisdiction, organisation and intended use.
Ethical Resources begins with AI ethics, but its purpose is broader.
Professionals and new graduates are often expected to understand ethics without receiving enough help to apply ethical principles to real situations. Codes, policies and academic theories are important, but they can feel removed from the uncertainty of everyday decision making.
Our longer term vision is to create engaging educational resources that make professional ethics easier to understand and use. This may include practical dilemmas, guided decisions, reflective exercises and structured processes for recognising ethical concerns, balancing competing responsibilities and knowing when to seek supervision or specialist advice.
Technology will remain an important part of this work because it is changing how information is used, how services are delivered and how decisions are made. However, the central focus will remain human responsibility.
Ethical Resources was founded by Shirleen Schmidt, M.Couns, an experienced business owner, counsellor and psychotherapist with earlier professional experience in nursing and midwifery.
Ethical Resources is Shirleen’s fourth business since 1993. Her experience as a business owner has given her practical knowledge of the decisions involved in building services, communicating with customers, managing responsibilities and adapting to changing technology.
Her professional background has also involved working in fields where confidentiality, informed judgement, human vulnerability and trust carry particular importance. Nursing, midwifery and counselling each require more than technical knowledge. They require an understanding of how decisions affect real people, particularly when those people may be uncertain, distressed or dependent on professional guidance.
This combination of professional and business experience shapes the Ethical Resources approach. The focus is not technology for its own sake. It is the responsible use of technology within the realities of professional practice and small business.
Shirleen’s work is informed by an ongoing interest in ethics, artificial intelligence, privacy, professional responsibility and the practical challenges people face when established expectations meet rapidly changing tools.
She approaches AI as both a useful technology and an area requiring thoughtful human oversight. Her role is to turn complex ethical questions into clear resources that help people recognise risk, protect trust and move forward with greater confidence.
Ethical Resources products begin with a practical problem or decision.
The development process may include reviewing current government guidance, professional information, recognised ethical frameworks and credible research. Artificial intelligence may assist with research planning, early drafting, organisation, editing and selected visual concepts.
AI generated information is not automatically accepted as accurate. Important claims and references are checked against appropriate sources, and published material remains under human direction, revision and approval.
Resources are developed with attention to clarity, accessibility and practical use. The purpose is not to reduce every ethical question to a simple formula. It is to give users a stronger starting point and a more consistent way to think through the issues that matter.
Further information about this process is available in our AI Use and Transparency Policy.
Ethical Resources is committed to creating material that is clear, responsible and honest about its limitations.
We do not promise that a worksheet, guide or course can eliminate every risk. We do not present educational material as a substitute for legal advice, cybersecurity advice, professional supervision or profession specific guidance.
We aim to help people recognise when a decision is relatively straightforward, when further assessment is needed and when the matter should be referred to someone with the appropriate expertise.
We also remain responsible for the content we publish. If a meaningful error or concern is identified, we will examine it and take reasonable steps to correct, clarify or update the relevant material.
AI will continue to change, and professional expectations will develop alongside it. Responsible practice cannot depend on learning one set of rules and assuming they will remain sufficient.
People need a way to continue asking thoughtful questions as new tools and uses emerge.
Ethical Resources exists to support that process. We help professionals and small business owners understand what is at stake, recognise where greater caution is required and use ethical judgement as part of innovation rather than as an afterthought.
Moving with the times does not require leaving professional values behind. It requires carrying those values forward with greater care, clarity and accountability.
If you would like to explore how AI can be included in your practice while protecting confidentiality and professional trust, please get in touch to discuss your needs.
Ethical Resources
Australia