AI Disclosure Should Become the Norm

Yesterday, I received and started reading Ethan Mollick’s book, Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI.

Early in the book, there is a section titled “How I Used AI to Write This Book.” Mollick explains how he used AI in writing the book, while making it clear that the ideas, arguments and voice remain his own.

I believe such disclosures should become a default practice in the age of AI, not just in books, but also in blogs, articles, reports and other forms of writing.

When Jaspreet Bindra and I wrote our book, Winning with AI, we deliberately included instances of where and how AI was used in creating the book.

This is increasingly becoming a matter of professional ethics and good conduct.

Readers deserve to know how the content they are consuming was created, particularly the role AI played in it.

In fact, a couple of organisations we have worked with have already instituted policies requiring employees to voluntarily disclose AI assistance in written content.

I think that is a good practice worth adopting more widely.

The disclosure need not be elaborate. A simple statement explaining whether AI was used for research, brainstorming, editing or drafting can go a long way in building trust.

And on a lighter note…

Remember the days when emails carried the signature:

“Sent from my iPhone, please excuse typos.”

In the AI era, perhaps we need a new signature:

“Written with AI. Please excuse the unusually polished language.” 😀