William Reed publishes AI policy

The statement from William Reed is as follows:

William Reed is dedicated to driving positive and transformative digital change, both within our organisation and for our clients. AI and Machine Learning tools therefore hold immense potential in the field of marketing, journalism and commercially within our markets. Our objective is to use generative AI to enhance our content, provide valuable insights and deliver exceptional audience experiences. We will do this responsibly by adhering to a set of ethical principles and governance, whilst upholding the highest standards of accuracy and integrity.

Our approach is threefold:

1.Enhancing our internal business operations by implementing AI and ML solutions, streamlining our workflow, and boosting efficiency.

2.Elevating the quality and effectiveness of our product offerings, using AI and ML to create more personalised, user-focused solutions.

3.Incorporating strict governance structures and ethical guidelines into our AI/ML practices, ensuring our commitment to transparent, fair, lawful, and responsible data handling.

The following areas will be the focus of our activities:

Editorial Excellence:

Editors and those working on our market-leading brands across the globe may utilise generative AI tools to support, rather than complete, work and processes. We understand the limitations of current AI technologies and recognise human expertise is essential and so may use such tools in the following ways:

• Suggesting headlines – for both search engine optimised and homepage – to ensure the right people find our content. However, editors will continue to utilise their deep sector knowledge and journalistic skill to ensure accuracy.
• Analysing large data. Generative AI may be used to pull out key trends from large data to ensure audiences receive the most relevant content to help inform business growth.
• Summarise long, written reports into bite sized chunks to better inform reporting. However, we do not publish stories with text generated by AI and all content derived from such tools will always exceed our high standards before publication.

Personalisation with Care:

We aspire to leverage AI-driven algorithms to offer personalised user experiences, such as tailoring content recommendations to individual preferences. We prioritise user privacy and ensure transparency by disclosing any instances where AI-generated content is used.

Thoughtful Idea Generation:

We may explore AI’s potential in suggesting story ideas and generating short-form content. However, we acknowledge AI suggestions may not always meet our high-quality standards, and our market-leading editorial teams will always make the ultimate decision.

Research and Analysis:

We may experiment with AI as a research and analytical tool, enabling our reporters to efficiently extract insights from large datasets. However, we remain committed to thorough fact-checking, original reporting, and verifying information from primary sources.

Ethical Image Generation:

We may experiment with AI-generated images or video under certain conditions, ensuring that artists incorporate significant creative input and avoid unlawful imitation or copyright infringement. We respect the value of stock photography and will not replace it with AI-generated images until creators are fairly compensated by AI companies.

Governance and Accountability:

We maintain rigorous governance over the use of AI, constantly evaluating its impact, and adjusting our practices as needed. This includes continuing to ensure we have appropriate technical, organisational, and contractual measures in place for the lawful processing of any personal data. We invite feedback from our audience and stakeholders to foster transparency and ensure that our AI initiatives align with our commitment to ethics and quality.

We aim to set an industry standard, constantly striving to be a team that peers and competitors monitor closely. We do not just follow trends but aspire to create them.