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Do we need an AI disclaimer when artificial intelligence produces the content? And vice versa. Should we state when humans entirely created the content?
This is not something that’s now being done already, by the way:
The TV show “60 Minutes” now ended an episode saying: “We’ll end with a note that has never appeared on 60 Minutes, but one, in the AI revolution, you may often be hearing: the preceding was created with 100% human content.”
On the complete opposite end of the creative spectrum is the GameChanger app. It writes game stories from youth sports scored in the app. It clearly states how those game stories are written, too – through AI. It’s an excellent service to those teams, and nobody says: “OMG. These stories are inauthentic. They are written by AI.” Nope. Parents say, “How cool is that? There’s a game story for Little Johnny’s game.
Marketing leader Christopher Penn adds this content disclaimer to his newsletter:
Content Authenticity Statement
100% of this newsletter was written by me, the human. When there is machine generated content, I will prominently disclose it.
And when content is produced by AI only, there might be a copyright conundrum. Currently, only works created by humans can be copyrighted so those AI articles could easily be taken by anyone and used – after all, there’s no copyright on it. So stating that humans produced content can also ensure that people know the creator holds the copyright to it.
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What to consider regarding an AI disclaimer
What your decision on an AI disclaimer is, depends on whether you use AI-created content or not. If you use a lot of AI-created content, not pointing that out could hurt authenticity if the audience figures that out. But it also depends. For example, a hiring manager complained on LinkedIn that some applicants used AI to create their application materials.
I thought I’d ask ChatGPT to write a cover letter to see how well AI might do. The letter was not terrible or too robotic. I might argue that it was close to what I would have written anyway.
But I can see how the hiring manager would feel duped, and it would hurt my trust if they were to find out that ChatGPT wrote this and I didn’t mention it. Our audiences of public content are no different. Trust matters and might disappear once lost between a brand and an audience.
On the flip side, if you don’t use content produced by artificial intelligence at all, it might be a differentiator and even a public show of “Look, you can trust me.”
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The decision
So, maybe an AI disclaimer isn’t currently required, but it can help establish trust and lead the audience to know who produced the content and what they can expect from the content. I mean, think about chatbots. When I see, I’m talking to a bot and not a person, I have different expectations of what the bot should know or understand than I would have of a person.
Read next: The AI predicament: Is using AI cheating?
It’s all about being authentic, transparent and ensuring the audience understands the context of the situation.