As artificial intelligence becomes more prominent in everyone’s lives, the business of journalism has to navigate its use. The Northern Star Editorial Board has come together and decided readers should know our policies on AI and what services like ChatGPT are allowed for. 

Any written or visual content created by AI will not be published by the Northern Star. Using AI to create pieces or photos is strictly prohibited and any staffer found guilty of this will be immediately terminated. The use of AI for content is similar to plagiarism and fabrication because it is not the writer or photographer’s own work. 

Every new staffer engages in an ethics training session after they are hired. In this training they are taught the Star’s policies and regulations as well as what we represent: a news outlet to the public that informs, educates and entertains.

There are certain exceptions we make for staffers to use AI, and they are as follows. 

Staffers are allowed to use AI services like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini to create ideas for stories, videos and/or photos. AI can be a good tool to spark creativity when the mind goes blank. 

Another form of AI that staffers and editors use is Otter.ai, a transcription software that is utilized during interviews. Whenever a staffer needs to interview someone for a story, the Northern Star mandates all interviews are to be voice-recorded. This ensures writers are able to quote what the interviewee says exactly without worrying about quote misattribution and missed words. 

Otter.ai is a useful website and app for transcribing voice notes. The auto-generated text makes it easier to add quotes to stories, allowing writers to verify transcription. Otter.ai also has a feature where it gives you a summary of each voice note.

Northern Star videographers use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit all videos that go up on our Instagram, TikTok and YouTube platforms. Premiere Pro has a feature that listens to what’s being said in a video and auto-generates captions. This AI element helps those who are editing videos get the job done, but video captions still go through an editing process of real editors because AI is not perfect. 

While the Northern Star has its own house guide on AI, we ensure that our standards are not breaking those set by the Associated Press and what they say news organizations are doing about AI. AP’s report on the use of AI in the newsroom states that AI can be used to generate story ideas and editing ideas, but published work must be the writer’s original work. AP does not prohibit the use of AI in all contexts and encourages journalists to get familiar with its uses and the dangers it may pose.

The Northern Star also follows this belief and believes it is important for our readers to understand our policies on AI.

“I think it’s important for (news organizations) to be really upfront about how they’re using AI and why they’re using AI,” said Northern Star Editor-in-Chief Olivia Zapf. “I think that these organizations owe it to their readers to at least tell them if they’re monitoring at all and how they’re doing it.”