AI without AI 🗣️

🗣️ My AI usage policy page, on why all of my posts (even on AI) are 100% human-authored, and why I think every website needs an AI usage policy page. (audio; 3:39)

AI and tech have their place, certainly - that’s a big part of what I write about:

• by myself here in my personal newsletter, and

• with my collaborators on

  6 'P's in AI Pods (AI6P)
  .

When I joined Substack in January, I committed that all of my Substack newsletter posts would be 100% human-written, as a matter of policy … no generative-AI written pieces. Here’s why.

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For a list of non-AI image sources (including links to other lists of image sources), see the ‘Images’ section in my ‘Ethical Shoestrings’ table:

Ethical Shoestrings

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Original image by Karen Smiley

My Views as a Reader

As a reader, I’m looking for the unique value the human writer adds from their experience and viewpoint. (If I want a completely genAI-written summary on a topic, I can use the tool myself.)

Having said that, I’m solidly pro-choice on whether people should be allowed to use generative AI to help write their articles if they choose.

However, from an ethics perspective, I do think writers should disclose when AI-based tools are used for much more than grammar checks, background research (with verification!), or brainstorming.

Why disclose? Simple.

1. Avoiding plagiarism includes citing one’s sources. If a genAI tool is doing some or all of the writing, the texts used for training the model are sources that should be cited, at least in aggregate by crediting the tool.

2. Readers like me deserve to be able to make an informed decision about whether to:

   1. bother reading an AI-generated article or not, or

   2. subscribe to a publication that is primarily AI-generated, or

   3. read an article that was partly written by a genAI tool that acquired its training data unethically.

IMHO, anyone should feel free to use generative AI tools for their writing if they choose, provided they:

1. are transparent about it, so their readers know what they’re getting, and

2. make sure the genAI tool they use was ethically developed, which includes:

   1. ethically sourcing training data for the genAI tool, so they don’t inadvertently steal someone else’s words or infringe another party’s rights,

   2. treating fairly the people involved in data annotation and other aspects of model development,

   3. taking suitable precautions about handling information fed to the model (and possibly used to augment it) by people who use the tool.

In fact, just like every website nowadays should have a privacy policy page, I think every site should have an AI usage policy page. This is mine!

My Views as a Writer

One thing I’ve learned to love about the writing process is how researching, writing, and editing always help me learn and sort out my thoughts. I’ve experimented, and concluded that my writing and my skills benefit from me doing the writing myself.

I don’t want to lose those benefits by outsourcing my articles to even the best genAI tool. My body (of work), my choice.

I’m far from alone in believing this. See e.g. “Don’t become your chatbot’s assistant” by Jane Rosenzweig on Writing Hacks.

That’s why I’ve gone on record with this AI usage policy to commit that all of my Substack posts will continue to be 100% human-written. (Same for my posts on other social media, e.g. LinkedIn, or other writing.) It simply works better for me. I expect that the results will work better for you, too. 😊

Edit: If you’re a creator who also relies on human intelligence, check out

Beth Spencer

’s cool new “created with HUMAN INTELLIGENCE” images! Here’s one example:

Image credit: Beth Spencer

Thanks for reading Everyday Ethical AI! I’d love to hear if you found this article useful. (Shares, hearts, comments, & restacks are awesome 😊, and one-time tips or voluntary donations via paid subscription are welcome & appreciated!)

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References

For more about ethical AI, see these articles:

Inconvenient Principles: No (unfairly trained) AI images 🗣️

Top 5 things to know about AI ethics

AISW Interview Guest FAQ