This article was co-published with The Open Notebook.

Within journalism, the explosion of generative AI has enabled ambitious new projects for some newsrooms and damaged the reputations of others. Despite ongoing controversy, audiences already believe news organizations are using generative AI in some capacity, whether or not that’s true. How a newsroom discloses its use of AI, especially generative AI and chatbots, can impact audience trust.

Across several studies, audiences have made it clear that they want journalists to disclose their use of AI. In a 2025 survey from the University of Minnesota, 52 percent of 1,128 respondents said it’s “very important” to them that newsrooms disclose their use of AI when writing article text, even when humans verified the information. A 2024 Reuters survey of participants from six countries received similar results: up to half the participants indicated that they wanted journalists to disclose their use of AI.

Editor’s Note: You can read The Open Notebook’s AI Policy here and OpenNews is actively developing an AI policy.

Sharing an AI Policy Builds Trust

Whether your newsroom uses AI or not, sharing a public AI policy can help bring audiences from a state of skepticism and mistrust to one of openness and curiosity about your process. Many newsrooms have published such policies. Below is a brief guide to some of the common threads among them, which can serve as a starting point for creating your own.

Rationale for Using AI

Some of the policies we examined contain an introduction that explains the newsroom’s thought process behind using AI and formalizing a policy around its use. Here are a few examples:

• The Guardian has published a list of principles guiding its AI use, including a paragraph stating that it hopes to use AI only in situations where it will improve the quality of the outlet’s work, such as by helping journalists interrogate data or suggesting corrections.

• NPR’s ethics guidelines include a special section on generative AI, concluding with a statement about why AI can be a promising tool for newsroom efficiency: “It is a great tool for some tasks that are ‘hard to do but easy to verify,’ such as helping identify key themes in large documents.”

• AP News includes information about its collaboration with OpenAI in its policy. Kristin Heitmann, senior vice president and chief revenue officer, states that “AP firmly supports a framework that will ensure intellectual property is protected and content creators are fairly compensated for their work. News organizations must have a seat at the table to ensure this happens, so that newsrooms large and small can leverage this technology to benefit journalism.”

• The Transmitter‘s AI policy states: “We believe that when used responsibly, [generative AI] tools have the potential to help us deliver news and information more efficiently, and to help us report stories more deeply.” (One example The Transmitter specifically mentions is language translation.)

Yes or No

According to a 2024 post from the nonprofit Trusting News, “explaining exactly what the AI tool did, why it was used, and how humans were still involved helps demystify the use of the tool” and builds trust with audiences. One way that newsrooms are framing their AI policies is by giving examples of when using AI is acceptable and when it is not. Here are some examples:

Having clearly delineated use cases in your policy doesn’t have to mean that your newsroom has completely settled on every detail of its AI use—especially since the technology continues to evolve rapidly. In fact, some newsrooms make clear that their AI policies may change. For example, The Narwhal‘s AI policy notes that their newsroom’s AI working group “will regularly evaluate and update” the publication’s standards. Similarly, The Texas Tribune uses the term “cautious experimentation” to describe their newsroom’s approach to generative AI tools, emphasizing that journalists “must be critical of the tools.”

“No AI” Statements

Even if you’ve decided your newsroom won’t use generative AI in any way, communicating that decision to your audiences is still worthwhile. For example, the Philly Plain Dealer has a “No AI” statement that lists quotes from its reporters explaining why they are against the use of AI in their work.

Commenting on the Ethics of AI

Some critics of AI point out that using generative AI and thus supporting the companies behind the platforms may have consequences for communities that newsrooms intend to serve, including contributing to climate change, job displacement, and rising energy costs. Publishing AI policies can be an opportunity for deeper conversation about the ethics of using generative AI beyond how it can help journalists do their jobs. For example, AfroLA acknowledges that AI can be a “disruptive tool” for the industry in its policy, but aims to “take every possible action so that it is used to enhance, rather than replace, human work in our operations.”

In addition to publishing an overall statement on AI use, some newsrooms have included discussion of how their AI policies are derived specifically from their missions. For example, Pittsburgh’s Public Source writes that its AI policy “emphasizes our values of human-centered journalism, transparency, accuracy, and privacy protection.”

Of course, every newsroom’s mission, audience, and resources differ, and the ideas above are by no means exhaustive or prescriptive. Instead, consider them an invitation to draft a clear, transparent, living AI policy that works for your newsroom.

Additional Resources:

The Open Notebook’s reported guide to evaluating how to use AI in your writing

The Open Notebook’s AI Policy

Trusting News’ AI policy worksheet

Poynter’s AI ethics guidelines for newsrooms

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