AI Policy

Greenbelt News Review Policy on Use of Artificial Intelligence

1. The goal of this policy is to ensure all content submitted for publication by the News Review is the work of human volunteers and staff.
   Anyone using an AI tool for any purpose must be aware that while AI output may appear authoritative, “hallucinations” are common in which an AI system confabulates information that is partially or entirely wrong.
2. Don’t use AI to write an article. Any output from any AI tool should be treated as unvetted source material, and is not suitable as a source for any news. No text, photos, audio, video, or other content for publication should be altered or generated using an AI tool — with the sole exception if an article is specifically about the accuracy or inaccuracy of AI tools. In this case, all AI-generated or AI-modified content must be clearly identified to readers as generated by an AI tool, and that tool should generally be identified.
3. AI can be used to generate ideas for potential approaches and sources that must then be independently researched. For instance, asking an AI to identify which prior News Review issues covered a particular topic is ok — similar to using a typical search engine. Asking AI for a summary of meeting minutes is ok, as long as all content in the article arises from a human reading those minutes. Any use of AI in this manner must be disclosed to the Managing Editor before or when submitting any resulting article content.
4. AI can be used to generate computer code to implement an algorithm. For instance, it’s ok to ask AI to create a draft Excel macro or formula to identify dates in a spreadsheet happening in February, as long as it’s reviewed by a human. Any use of AI in this manner must be disclosed to the Managing Editor before or when submitting any resulting article content.
5. If any automated translation system —including AI — is used to translate content from another language into English, the translation must be discussed with the Managing Editor before submitting any article content.
6. No one should ever put confidential or sensitive information into any AI tool. That information might be used as source material for later queries given to the same individual or others.
7. If we publish a video on our website, automated tools including AI are acceptable to create open or closed captions, as long as those captions are reviewed and corrected before publication.
8. Any individual exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Managing Editor. Any ongoing exceptions to this policy, or any policy changes, must be approved by the Editorial Board.

References:

NY Times: https://www.nytco.com/press/principles-for-using-generative-a%E2%80%A4i%E2%80%A4-in-the-timess-newsroom/
Economist: https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/How-we-handle-AI-generated-content
Associated Press: https://www.ap.org/the-definitive-source/behind-the-news/standards-around-generative-ai/
Inside the News in Colorado: https://coloradomedia.substack.com/p/how-colorado-newsrooms-are-or-arent
JournalistsResource.org: https://journalistsresource.org/home/generative-ai-policies-newsrooms/