• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 12, 2023

Journalists are worried about people sneaking generative AI into their stories. But there is another threat: press releases constructed with GenAI. You may not even know that this is happening. 

To address this, the PR service Muck Rack has created guidelines for PR pros and journalists alike. People in this information stream should observe these values:

Confidentiality — Be mindful of confidentiality and trademark laws and avoid using specific names, proprietary or confidential information and copyrighted works. 

Responsibility and accuracy — Copy created with GenAI should be vetted and fact-checked as if it were written by humans to ensure accuracy, fairness, confidentiality and originality; images created with GenAI should be labeled.

Management and training — Organizations including media, agencies and brands, should create and enforce ethical guidelines for when and how AI will be used, fact-checked and edited; regular training should be provided to staff.

PR agencies must be especially mindful of these best practices. Those that integrate AI into their workflow “do not need to disclose its use to clients” unless there are particular concerns, Muck Rack adds, although that sounds a little strange. We would argue that journalists and PR clients both should be apprised when content is created with GenAI. 

To be fair, Muck Rack ends by saying, “It’s best practice to be forthcoming and transparent with clients, and agencies should be aware of clients’ privacy and liability concerns before inputting confidential information into AI tools.”

Assuming they do not yet have guidelines of their own within their companies, journalists and editors should also follow these suggestions.