Journalism needs an industry-wide response to AI

[My Letter to the Editor, The Observer, published 12/04/26]

Journalism evidently needs its own standardised, industry-wide response to the risk of AI-induced plagiarism and misinformation (“What happened when the literary critic asked AI for help? He got sacked”, 4 April). Perhaps something akin to the Society of Authors’ “human-authored” certification, launched in March 2026.

The Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) has been working on an “AI assisted” kitemark proposal, which would be given to flag if and how the technology has been used in a work of journalism. A mechanism of this kind would give audiences the assurance that AI has been wielded responsibly – and offer journalists a framework for checking their work against the requisite codes of conduct.

While government attempts to clamp down on the copyright issue would reduce instances of plagiarism down the line, they would not resolve the AI hallucination or disinformation problem. It’s time the non-fiction world caught up with its own, industry-wide response. New technologies demand new approaches.