We consciously avoid using any generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools or agents in our editing, writing and design practices. This means:
- we never upload client content to any AI system – we treat all client content as confidential, sensitive and subject to copyright laws
- we use our human intelligence, creativity and real-world experience to generate our own original outputs.
Where AI is built into our professional software tools, it is disabled to the maximum extent possible. Where disabling an AI is not possible, we exercise our professional judgement and experience to check its outputs.
We do use automation to speed up repetitive tasks, such as document clean-up and search/replace functions.
Client responsibilities
If you require us to use AI for your project, we will need to agree on the parameters of that use. We may decline the work if we believe the risks or costs of the AI use are too high for the nature of the project, or if the use is unethical or illegal.
You will disclose whether, where and how AI has been used in your project, so that we can take extra care in checking the AI output’s factual accuracy, contextual awareness, and any legal or ethical issues arising in or from its use.
Principles on which our policy is based
- AI has potential benefits for analysing large data sets in fields such as science and medicine.
- In all other fields, the use of AI to replace human thought, creativity and purpose is unnecessary while humans can still think, create and seek meaning.
- The environmental and social costs of using AI for unnecessary or trivial purposes outweigh any supposed benefit.
- Generative AI models are trained on humans’ creative work. Companies seeking to profit from the use of intellectual property to replicate human creativity should not be exempt from copyright laws.
- The use of AI is a choice, not an inevitability.