As a small, independently owned alt-weekly founded as an alternative to mainstream media, The Austin Chronicle has approached the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into our industry with wariness.
Inarguably, there are many useful applications of AI, some of which our reporters regularly use (detailed below). However, there’s much that troubles us about the current state of AI: the proliferation of inaccurate, misleading, biased, and/or malicious information; its uncertain long-term impacts on the environment, employment, public safety, and national security, as well as on mental health, child development, and critical thinking and communication skills; the tech industry’s disregard of writer and artist copyrights in training LLMs; and that same industry’s unchecked harvesting of news archives to “AI Overview” journalists’ work and discourage readers from directly interacting with news sites.
Still, we recognize AI’s omnipresence. Even if we wanted to opt out of AI entirely, we’re likely already opting in when we use our smartphones, interact with an online help desk, get an X-ray, follow a Netflix recommendation, navigate rush hour traffic, and so on. An official AI policy for the Chronicle is overdue.
This technology is evolving at such a lightning-quick pace, coming up with a comprehensive AI policy that doesn’t instantly date itself has been a challenge. Additionally, in our staffwide conversations about AI, we discovered different departments have different needs, and see different potential in AI. For instance, our distribution manager already uses AI-powered tools for delivery route optimization, and our advertising team has looked into AI-assisted design in building sales decks.
So we’ve arrived here at something closer to a statement of purpose than a fixed-in-stone list of what’s acceptable and what’s not, and we’ve made it specific to our newsroom – meaning, our Editorial and Production departments: writers, editors, photographers, and designers.
Firstly, the Chronicle’s newsroom pledges to lead with transparency. If AI has been used in a meaningful way, we will let readers know.
There are some AI usages we think are commonplace enough not to warrant mention; for instance, our reporters already routinely use AI tools for transcription and translation.
AI is also hugely helpful in processing large data dumps, including legal documents and government records; our readers can expect our reporters to be using AI for investigative purposes.
In these examples, AI usage begins and ends with a human. No AI-assisted material will be published without verification and signoff from a qualified member of our Editorial team.
As AI technology evolves and becomes more reliable, we anticipate more AI tools will be folded into our everyday work routines. However, there are certain applications of generative AI that we explicitly forbid in the newsroom. Our Editorial staff will not use generative AI to write stories, headlines, social media posts, or newsletter copy.
Similarly, we will not use AI to generate photographs, video, or illustrations, or even to brainstorm ideas. At most, we will use AI in an assistive manner here (for example, using Photoshop to remove a background from an image for use in an Editorial illustration).
Our Sales team encourages clients to use our skilled Production Department in the creation of their advertising, rather than AI-generated content. That said, we understand that some preexisting AI-generated logos and graphics are now unavoidable in advertising.
This policy has been adopted by existing Editorial, Production, and Sales staff as of September 2026. Going forward, new staffers, contributors, and interns will be required to agree to the policy. We have also updated public submission forms – Letters to the Editor, Opinion columns, and Calendar events – to make explicit the Chronicle’s stance and to discourage readers from using generative AI when sending us letters, op-eds, and event writeups.
While this policy is broad and most certainly will evolve, we believe it represents the Chronicle’s shared values as a news organization and community partner.
Last updated: September 1, 2026