Future and AI

WHY DO WE HAVE GUIDANCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

Throughout Future’s history, we have adopted new technologies that support our work. We recognise the potential that Artificial intelligence (AI) can bring to our journalistic practices, by improving efficiency and assisting with our creative processes.

While there are many exciting opportunities for Future in using AI within an editorial environment, we must ensure ethical and responsible use of AI in alignment with our commitment to quality journalism. AI is a tool to support, not replace, our human journalists. Final editorial decisions will always rest with a human editor.

This AI guidance sets out how AI-powered tools are used at Future and the restrictions on their use. We will keep it under review as AI – and the potential issues it raises – develops.

WHO DOES THIS GUIDANCE APPLY TO? 

All colleagues at Future, including freelancers, contractors, agency workers and anyone who provides Future with content that is published on our properties.

GENERAL GUIDANCE

Future continues to focus on creating helpful, trustworthy, and high-quality content. To do this, we use AI solely as a co-pilot to help us bring greater efficiency to our processes.

PERMITTED USE OF AI TOOLS

Generative AI tools are permitted for use by editorial colleagues at Future to improve the quality of their work. There are verified tools with AI features that are approved for Future use in only the following use cases:

• Ideation – for headlines and interview questions.
• Transcribing and notation – to turn spoken briefs into written briefs.
• Analysing large sets of publicly available data – to generate insights based on trends or patterns.
• Correcting spelling and grammar – in raw article copy.

NON-PERMITTED USE OF AI IN CONTENT GENERATION

Editorial teams must not use AI tools to generate new articles or to update articles, or sections of articles, that are published on Future-owned properties.

At no time can AI be employed to:

• Write original content for publication on Future-owned properties.
• Rewrite raw copy or existing articles, or sections of articles, for publication.

The only exception to this is for limited-scale tests where specific permission is granted by Future’s Executive Leadership Team. Any permitted test-related content will be clearly labeled as AI-generated.

IMAGE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE

When generating new images for publication, Future only permits the use of images sourced from approved AI image generators that use content from their own collections and which we are licensed to use and adapt. Future respects third-party intellectual property rights and our internal policies are designed to support this approach.

We will not use AI tools to augment or adapt images that could compromise editorial integrity or mislead a reader about real events or people. All AI-generated imagery must be vetted by an editor or designer before publication.

All AI-generated or AI-manipulated images will be clearly labeled and include correct attribution.