The Boston Globe newsroom policy on artificial intelligence
The Boston Globe uses journalistic judgment in every decision we make, with a journalist responsible for all of the work that appears on our platforms. Reporters, producers, columnists, photographers, and videographers create all Globe work, and editors edit all Globe work.
We do and will use artificial intelligence in furtherance of our mission to be the best and most interesting news organization covering New England. We believe we’d be derelict in our civic responsibilities if we failed to take advantage of the power of AI to pursue more stories, more urgently, and to reach more readers. But human eyes are on everything we do.
At times, we do and will use AI to monitor publicly accessible websites, narrate our stories for audio listeners, recommend headlines and language for email and Globe app alerts, and suggest other stories readers may like. Experienced data reporters will also have the option to use AI to decipher complicated data sets in pursuit of important conclusions. We’ll use AI-written summaries at the top of some stories, always proofed by a journalist.
We firmly believe AI is a tool that, used well, can make our journalism better. We just as firmly believe that, at a complicated moment when AI is being used with increasing frequency, our readers demand to know that human judgment is behind all Globe journalism. This will remain true.
We won’t use AI to alter photographs or videos in any way. We won’t use AI to edit stories in a way that replaces human editors. We won’t use AI to write our stories.
In cases where we use AI in ways that depart from these principles and guidelines, we will be transparent with our readers and include notations on individual stories and visuals. We also recognize that AI technology is evolving quickly and that we, as an organization, must be prepared to evolve with it. These guidelines will be updated whenever necessary.