Neighbourhood's AI Policy
Over the last few months, Generative AI has proven itself to be an increasingly important and valuable tool to workers in almost every industry, with ours among the most affected. As this technology grows in power, functionality and accessibility, it is important that we define how our company chooses to use it and how we recommend that our friends, partners and clients choose to use it. While AI isn’t something that should be considered necessary to the creative process that we engage in, it is becoming apparent that those who do not make use of AI to improve their speed and capacity to work will be disadvantaging themselves in comparison to those that choose do.
This policy is intended to convey Neighbourhood’s approach to AI and how our clients can expect to see it integrated into the Neighbourhood service offering. Should you have any questions or concerns based on the following, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at weare@nbh.co.
The use of AI in general
In general, Neighbourhood considers AI to be a useful and value-adding addition to our business toolset. When utilised by our skilled and knowledgeable staff, AI presents a method of saving time, improving consistency and bolstering efficiency in our work. These improvements and efficiencies allow us to more effectively service our clients, and complete our work faster and smarter. Much like the type of computers we use, the quality cameras we shoot our videos on and the software we partner with; AI is an aid we have chosen as a ‘means’ to a better and more productive ‘end’.
That said, it is Neighbourhood’s position that AI should be used to enhance the work completed by real people, not used to replace it. The value that our staff are able to provide through their creativity, experience and human understanding will never be something that an AI tool can replicate or match. It has always been our goal to humanise the marketing and sales process for the companies that we work with and the only way to do that is with humans, not AI.
To help ensure that our use of AI is up to standard, this AI policy has been written to help us prevent inaccuracy, maintain security and remain ethical in our marketing processes.
Accountability
As educated professionals in the marketing and content space, we understand that humans are ultimately responsible for the actions and outcomes of generative AI. Any and all content that is generated by an AI tool at Neighbourhood will be reviewed and edited by a human employee before being published or made publicly accessible.
Any content we develop, regardless of whether it was generated by AI or not, is the responsibility of a human employee to ensure it is accurate, and of an appropriate quality.
The AI Tools we use
The AI tools landscape is ever-changing and growing, with new options available every minute. We seek to be constantly investigating and adopting new tools that we believe will provide additional value to our clients. At present, these are the tools that our staff use in their professional work;
- ChatGPT
- Jasper.ai
- Hubspot AI
- Canva AI
- Bard
Of course the AI landscape is changing rapidly, so there may be new tools that popup on short notice. Whenever we find one we want to introduce into our process, we’ll add it to the above list as soon as we’re confident in its performance.
Please note: Our use of AI tools is project and need specific - not all projects use all tools (or even any tools).
The risks
As with any new and emerging technology, there are some risks that are worth noting and being aware of. We have weighed the below risks in choosing to use AI to support our work, and it’s important to us that you understand these risks as well.
- Inaccuracy or incorrect information
- Your data may be playing a part in training algorithms
- Your data may be retained as part of the agreement of use of an AI tool
- Legal & Copyright
Inaccuracy or incorrect information
Additionally, AI tools can often perpetuate biases found in the content that they have been provided as learning materials. These biases can be subtle, but it is the job of the person using AI to understand that they may be a factor.
As mentioned above - any content developed by Neighbourhood, regardless of whether it was generated by AI or not, is the responsibility of a human employee to ensure it is accurate, and of an appropriate quality.
Your data may be playing a part in training algorithms
Be aware that the information you enter into an AI tool may be used to train that tool and improve its ability to learn. Generative AI is a specific type of algorithm that provides responses based on its past experience, and previous prompts. Information fed in as prompts may be used in future responses provided to others.
Your data may be retained as part of the agreement of use of an AI tool
You may have heard the saying ‘If you’re not spending money, then you are the product’ used in relation to social media or data. This sentiment is also true in many AI-related cases - free tools are able to remain free through the value they derive from user data. The information that is collected by an AI tool about the user of that tool may be used to help create general or specific advertising profiles.
All clients of Neighbourhood are protected by an Non-Disclosure Agreement as part of our Service Level Agreements. Our use of AI tools will be in line with this NDA - we will not share client data or information with an AI platform without explicit approval.
Legal & Copyright
At present, there are still many questions regarding the legal and copyright ramifications of AI. Any content developed by an AI tool cannot be claimed as belonging to the user who prompted it or a company, which can cause issues depending on how that information is used or presented. Additionally, there are plagiarism risks, use of an AI tool that is pulling from original content can blur the line between which is the original and which has been reproduced.
Want to avoid using AI in your project?
Neighbourhood has no desire to force any client to be party to the use of AI if they do not wish to be. Should you prefer that we avoid using AI tools in any work we conduct on your behalf, please let your project lead know and they will ensure that the above tools and processes are avoided.
This policy was written with assistance from Impulse Creative's Generative AI Manifesto and Jasper.ai's responsible AI usage guidelines.