Technology transparency
How AI may assist CYS
- Organizing research and public records
- Summarizing source material for internal review
- Developing and editing drafts
- Structuring pages for readability and search
- Organizing data and supporting code development
- Assisting website production, graphic concepts and workflow automation
Verification rules
- AI output is not treated as a primary source.
- Material political, legislative, election, legal, economic and government claims must be verified against reliable sources.
- Quotes must be checked against the original recording, transcript, document or other authoritative source.
- AI must not invent interviews, quotations, sources, statistics, votes, court documents or government records.
Images and visual material
AI-generated images may be used as clearly illustrative or conceptual visuals. They must not be presented as documentary photographs of real events, evidence or authentic images of a person or location when they are not.
Political judgment
AI does not determine political endorsements or tell readers which candidate, party or policy position to support. CYS does not use AI output as a substitute for editorial judgment about fairness, newsworthiness, context or harm.
Human responsibility
A human makes the final publication decision. CYS remains accountable for accuracy, fairness, corrections and the effects of its work whether or not AI assisted the process.
Disclosure
CYS will disclose AI use when it is material to a reader’s understanding of the published work—for example, when a visual is AI-generated or automation substantially shapes a data product. This policy does not require publication of proprietary prompts, private workflows or security information.
