Artificial Intelligence Merit Badge
Eight requirements drawn so the three parts that need another person in the room are visible before the twenty-four that do not, with the two routes at requirements 7 and 8 shown as what each actually costs.
9 steps (24 parts inside them). 4 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Artificial Intelligence Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 2 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 2 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
Your progress
31 steps can be started now; 1 is waiting on something else.
Clear ticksYour ticks are kept in this browser, so they will still be here next time. They are in the address as well, so a link to this page carries them to another device.
The steps
Stage 1 of 9
1 step
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1. Sixteen terms defined: the vocabulary of everything after it Often forgotten Requirement
Artificial intelligence, AI agents, automation, basic programming, bots, data, databases, digital workers, general AI, machine learning, narrow AI, superintelligent AI, tasks, triggers, workflows and variables: defined, and the meaning of each shared with your counselor.
THIS BADGE HAS NO PAMPHLET, AND THE BADGE SAYS SO ITSELF. An unnumbered note above requirement 1 explains that it was designed instead around the "Scoutly" chatbot on scouting.org. The note ends with a sentence that matters more than the rest of it: this does NOT replace the requirement to identify and work with a counselor to complete the badge. A badge delivered by chatbot invites the opposite conclusion, which is presumably why the sentence is there.
Stage 2 of 9
1 step
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2. AI basics: thirty examples between this and requirement 3, and one of them is a game Requirement
Five parts, four of them lists and explanations. The fourth is an appointment: ten rounds of a game played with your counselor.
5 parts
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2(d). Play ten rounds of "AI or Not?" WITH your counselor Often forgotten THIS IS AN APPOINTMENT, NOT AN EXERCISE. Ten rounds of "AI or Not?", played WITH your counselor and then discussed. There is nothing to submit and nothing to prepare in advance, and because the badge has no pamphlet, the game is not printed anywhere a Scout can find it. Your counselor has it, from the Counselor Information Page. Ask for this meeting early.
Stage 3 of 9
1 step
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3. Automation basics: the same five questions about a different thing Often forgotten Requirement
Deliberately parallel to requirement 2. Part (d) is where the badge states the actual difference between automation and AI.
REQUIREMENTS 2 AND 3 ARE THE SAME FIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT THINGS: ten everyday examples, five workplace, five school, an explanation, and a five-milestone timeline, once for AI and once for automation. That is thirty examples in total and they are meant to be thirty different ones. Sort out what separates the two ideas before writing either list; the badge itself does not state the distinction until requirement 3(d).
5 parts
Stage 4 of 9
1 step
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4. Ethics. Research, a second counselor game, and your own guidelines Requirement
Four parts. One is an appointment, one is a piece of writing that depends on the research in the first, and one is a single short question.
4 parts
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4(b). Play and discuss five rounds of "What Would You Do?" WITH your counselor Often forgotten THE SECOND COUNSELOR GAME, and the same applies. Five rounds of "What Would You Do?", played and then discussed together. It is independent of the game in requirement 2(d), either order, or both in one meeting, which is worth asking for since arranging one meeting is easier than arranging two.
Stage 5 of 9
1 step
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5. Deepfakes: what they are, and what to do about one Requirement
Two parts, and the second is the one that matters to a Scout personally rather than academically.
Stage 6 of 9
1 step,
all ticked
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6. Developing AI skills: how to talk to it and get something useful back Requirement
Four parts on the practical craft of using these tools, including prompt engineering.
Stage 7 of 9
1 step
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7. Practical application: a project or a lesson, and either needs approval FIRST Often forgotten Requirement
The badge states the choice. Both routes open "With your counselor's approval", so the approval comes before the work rather than after it.
THE APPROVAL COMES BEFORE THE WORK. Both routes open with the same four words: "With your counselor's approval". A Scout who builds the project first and presents it afterwards has not met requirement 7 as written, however good the project is. Raise it at the same meeting as the two games.
2 parts
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7(b). Design a lesson on AI and teach it to a group of Scouts Optional May not apply Often forgotten THIS ROUTE NEEDS AN AUDIENCE AND A SLOT IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S PROGRAMME. Teaching a lesson to your patrol or a group of Scouts means a patrol that is meeting, a leader who has agreed to give you the time, and an interactive demonstration that works in that room with whatever connection it has. None of that is difficult and all of it takes longer to arrange than to do.
Stage 8 of 9
1 step
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8. Career exploration. Research three, or interview one Requirement
The badge states the choice. Both end in a discussion with your counselor.
2 parts
Stage 9 of 9
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 8. Career exploration. Research three, or interview one.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.