With the increasing adoption and usage of generative Artificial Intelligence tools and resources for content production, it is crucial to codify a set of guiding principles that would ensure the responsible use of these technologies in the news value chain at DAWN.

We will endeavour to constantly update the policy as the technology and its use cases evolve — most importantly, in line with DAWN’s editorial guidelines and Code of Ethics.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

There is no standard definition for AI — it may mean different things to different people. Having said that, the London School of Economics broadly defines AI as “a collection of ideas, technologies, and techniques that relate to a computer system’s capacity to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence”.

At DAWN, we refer to AI as the technologies and processes, including algorithms and other tools, that we employ to make our work more efficient as well as deliver relevant content to our diverse audiences. Specifically, the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and image or video generating AIs.

Although generative AI has the potential to improve newsgathering and dissemination, it also has the potential to harm journalists’ credibility and our unique relationship with our audience.

Our Commitment to Responsible AI Use

We will strive to ensure that our use of generative AI aligns with our editorial values. We commit to:

• Transparency

We believe you have the right to know when and how we use AI in our work; that’s why we’ll always tell you if AI tools helped create or enhance our content — whether it’s in our articles, images, audio, or videos. No fine print, just clear labels.

• Human oversight

We will ensure human oversight over all aspects of AI use to ensure accuracy and fairness and will not fully automate tasks with AI. Technology may assist us, but our journalists and editors remain at the helm. Every piece of AI-assisted content will go through careful human review to ensure it meets the high standards readers expect from DAWN. Our editorial team verifies facts, checks context, and ensures our reporting remains accurate and fair.

Our Commitment to Quality

While engaging AI technology, we remain committed to:

• Maintaining the highest standards of journalistic integrity
• Protecting source confidentiality and personal privacy
• Ensuring factual accuracy through human verification
• Preserving our unique voice and relationship with our audience

Editorial Integrity

DAWN’s commitment to editorial integrity will always come first; we will consider all proposed uses of AI with journalism-centered intentions and an acknowledgment that content presented as original from AI tools may be plagiarised or completely fabricated.

Below are some of the questions we encourage our team members to address when using AI tools:

1. How do you want to use AI?
2. Is this the most efficient way of carrying out the task?
3. What is the journalistic purpose of this work?
4. How will you fact-check the results (where applicable)?
5. Is this for brainstorming / research / publishing?
6. Is the material sensitive in nature? Specifically for images, does this material have the potential to harm sensibilities of any section of the population?
7. Does the prompt have any sensitive or private information? (Revealing identities of anonymous sources, names, DOBs, addresses, names of minors)

Permitted Use

We allow AI assistance with human verification in:

• Research and background information gathering (prompting AI for ideas for articles is strongly discouraged)
• Image illustrations (clearly labelled as AI-generated)
• Audio/video editing and enhancement
• Translation and transcription
• Data analysis and visualisation

Prohibited Use

We do not allow:

• Using AI to generate or edit news stories
• Generation of lifelike images or videos of real people
• AI-based fact-checking
• AI-generated or manipulated photos of real events
• Use of AI tools for handling sensitive or confidential information

Guidelines for Contributors

We expect our contributors to adhere to DAWN’s AI policy and note:

• You must disclose any use of AI tools in your content creation process
• Our editors reserve the right to:
  • Inquire about AI usage in submitted content
  • Request original, unedited drafts for review
  • Make final decisions about the acceptability of AI-assisted content

Contributors are strongly encouraged to retain their tone in articles and use their own expertise on the topic in question.

Content Labelling

Readers can expect clear labelling of AI-enhanced content:

• AI-generated images/ AI-assisted audio or video content will be clearly labelled
• When substantial AI assistance is used in content creation, an editor’s note/label will be included
• If and when any social media post/article is created wholly by AI, editors will mention so in the title
• Any use of AI in generation of content from advertisers/partners has to be disclosed to the Sales/Marketing/Branded Content desk. Decisions about labelling for sponsored content are made by our editorial team according to the AI policy

Accountability and Guidance

An internal three-member team will coordinate and offer guidance on the usage of AI at DAWN. This team will also provide training as and when needed, as well as make policy updates with the approval of the senior editors.

The team will seek input from a variety of roles, particularly those who are directly reporting the news and working on visuals.

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We will continue to update this policy to reflect best practices in responsible AI use in journalism as the related industries evolve. We welcome feedback from our readers and contributors on our AI usage practices; write to us with feedback at dawnwebdesk@gmail.com. Last updated: January 2025