A NOTE ON AI USE FOR FREELANCE CONTRIBUTORS TO GLOBE OPINION
(The following is Globe Opinion’s policy for freelancers seeking to submit letters, op-eds, or Ideas essays for publication in our section. Opinion’s staff writers and columnists follow the same AI guidelines as the Globe newsroom. If you have questions about these policies, email us at opinion@globe.com.)
We recognize that artificial intelligence is now an inescapable part of daily life. We use AI tools in our journalism as well. But human thinking, creativity, and judgment are at the core of good journalism. What we publish by our staff is the fruit of their ideas and arguments, interviews and reporting, writing and editing. We expect all op-ed submissions from outside contributors to be authentic human creations as well.
That means you can use AI tools to help in your research or to carry out tasks like transcribing interviews or analyzing large data sets. But we expect that the ideas and the prose will be yours alone. We also hold writers responsible for the facts in their pieces. AI can plagiarize, hallucinate, and misinterpret. It is up to you to double check any information it provides you.
Additionally, we expect you to disclose your use of AI beyond simple searches. Clarity and honesty are the best policies. Because of the wide use of AI, we do not intend to provide a disclosure statement every time AI is used in a piece we publish. But we will try to disclose when such AI use is determined to be significant. Appropriate use of AI will not be penalized in our review process but undisclosed use will be.
We recognize that artificial intelligence is now an inescapable part of daily life. We use AI tools in our journalism as well. But human thinking, creativity, and judgment are at the core of good journalism. What we publish by our staff is the fruit of their ideas and arguments, interviews and reporting, writing and editing. We expect all op-ed submissions from outside contributors to be authentic human creations as well.
That means you can use AI tools to help in your research or to carry out tasks like transcribing interviews or analyzing large data sets. But we expect that the ideas and the prose will be yours alone. We also hold writers responsible for the facts in their pieces. AI can plagiarize, hallucinate, and misinterpret. It is up to you to double check any information it provides you.
Additionally, we expect you to disclose your use of AI beyond simple searches. Clarity and honesty are the best policies. Because of the wide use of AI, we do not intend to provide a disclosure statement every time AI is used in a piece we publish. But we will try to disclose when such AI use is determined to be significant. Appropriate use of AI will not be penalized in our review process but undisclosed use will be.