planet forward acknowledges that ai tools will become increasingly embedded in the storytelling process and that some tools are more assistive than generative. all permissible uses of ai tools must include stated acknowledgment and describe the capacity of use.

whenever possible we encourage contributors to use conventional research methods and their own thinking throughout the storytelling process.

further guidance on journalistic standards and policies:

permissible uses of ai

you may use ai tools:

• to help brainstorm ideas.
• as a thesaurus or spell checking tool.
• to create images that capture an idea otherwise impossible to be photographed, which are clearly labeled as ai images.
• to assist in aggregating primary sources during the research process.
• as a transcription service, but all quotes must be edited and verified manually.

prohibited uses of ai

we prohibit the use of:

• full sentence text created with generative ai writing tools. (chatgpt, grammarlygo, etc.)
• attributions citing llm tools. (you cannot cite chatgpt as a source.)
• ai as an author in a story’s byline.
• ai as a fact checking tool. because ai’s capability is limited by the data it has been trained on, llms are not 100% accurate or up-to-date.
• ai generated sounds or images that are not clearly captioned and described as such.

examples of acknowledging permissible uses of ai

• as the footer to an article.

chatgpt was used in the creation of this story to help brainstorm ideas for appropriate analogies that would help describe the complexity of nuclear fission to a general audience.

chatgpt was used in the creation of this story to help vary word choice by acting as a thesaurus and writing supplement tool.

• as the caption to an ai generated image.

(this image was created using generative ai software from adobe express.)

• as a lower-third text box on any ai generated video material.

ai video generated by sora.ai.

questions?

please reach out to editor@planetforward.org regarding any ai questions.