By now, ya pretty much know AI is Ev.Er.Y.Where. It’s ubiquitous.
So, is it worth explicitly telling your peeps you’re using it somewhere in your workflows and deliverables? Don’t they already just assume it?
This email from my biz bud Kristin Longacre of No Fuss Ads (and 2-3 others I got last week) got me thinking on this.
So, let’s dig in and see what makes sense for your business.
TL;DR If you use AI in your biz, should you tell your audience? There’s no universal rule requiring every business to disclose every use of AI — but creating a clear AI disclaimer and/or disclosure policy can be a smart way to build transparency, protect trust, clarify your human contribution, and keep up with evolving laws and platform requirements. Here’s how I’m approaching AI disclosures in my own biz , plus a simple process you can use to create an approach that fits your business, content, and comfort level.
AI Disclosure for This Post: AI assisted me with the TL;DR, When Should You Disclose AI Use?, The Bottom Line: AI Transparency Is About More Than a Disclaimer, and FAQs sections and adjustments to the title, headings, and meta title and description. AI-assisted content doesn’t necessarily mean AI-generated content. I reviewed /edited all AI-created/-assisted content, as needed, and am responsible for the final content. Please contact me if you find errors or outdated info.
Not Legal Advice: I’m not a lawyer, and this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this post should be construed as or relied upon as legal advice, a legal opinion, or a substitute for professional legal counsel. AI laws, regulations, platform policies, and other requirements can vary by jurisdiction, industry, situation, and use case — and they can change over time. If you have questions about the legal or regulatory requirements that apply to your business or a specific use of AI, please consult a qualified attorney or other appropriate legal professional.
AI Disclaimers vs. AI Disclosures: What They Are & Why They Matter
Here’s how I “define” AI Disclaimer and AI Disclosure:
- AI Disclaimer. A statement that articulates your general policies and approach related to AI and its usage in your biz. You can see mine in my Privacy Policy/Terms & Conditions.
- AI Disclosure. A more granular statement on an individual piece of work or content about how AI was used in its creation process (and where you added value!). For example, I have a little one at the top of my PP/T&C page.
And, I assert: YES! You should have AI disclaimer/disclosure statements.
For some important reasons:
- It’s good to be clear about what’s your original contribution. You don’t want to represent someone else’s work as your own. For ethical, strategic, and maybe legal reasons. (← not legal advice!)
- Your reputation could hang in the balance. In this day and age, your humaness is your value prop and differentiator. Stating what’s AI also states what’s you — your expertise, personality, authenticity, your connectedness to your peeps.
- It sets a benchmark for your work products and provide rules of engagement. By this, I mean that it lets you say whether or not you reviewed, fact-checked, augmented, or edited what the AI churned out. It gives you an opp to indicate why the AI elements are there and how to use with them.
- More and more platforms and marketplaces ask you to identify or label certain types of AI-generated or AI-altered content. Many AI tools are watermarking the content they generate. And many distribution platforms (eg, YouTube and Amazon KDP) require you to declare whether or not you used AI in the production of whatever it is you’re sharing on their platform. The rules vary a great deal, so you must look to each platform/marketplace for its requirements.
You’ve got the What and Why. How about some How?
When Should You Disclose AI Use?
First, an important distinction: There isn’t one universal rule that says every business needs to disclose every use of AI.
What you may need — or simply choose — to disclose can depend on things like:
- What you’re creating
- How AI was used
- Where you’re publishing it
- Who you’re serving
- Which laws or platform policies apply
I think of it as four different layers:
- Your general AI policy. This explains your overall approach to using AI in your biz. You might put this on your website, in your Privacy Policy/Terms & Conditions, or on a dedicated AI Use page.
- A disclosure on a specific piece of content or product. This gives people more context about how AI was used in that particular thing — and, importantly, what you contributed.
- A platform-required disclosure. Some platforms and marketplaces have their own rules about when you need to identify AI-generated or AI-altered content. Those requirements aren’t necessarily the same from platform to platform.
- A legally required disclosure. Depending on your sitch, applicable laws or regulations may require certain types of AI-generated or AI-manipulated content to be identified. These requirements can also change as AI regulation evolves.
So, IMO, the question isn’t simply “Do I have to disclose AI?”
It’s “What transparency makes sense for this particular use of AI — and are there any legal or platform requirements I need to follow?”
That distinction is important because “AI-assisted” and “AI-generated” aren’t necessarily the same thing. And a platform’s disclosure requirements may depend on that difference.
When in doubt about a legal requirement that applies to your specific situation, consult an appropriately qualified attorney. (← Still not legal advice!)
Do You Need an AI Disclaimer or Disclosure? There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Answer
👉 To Each Their Own
First, there aren’t any hard and fast rules to this. Tho there may be some minimum bars. You’ll need to do some research (and chats with your AI tool?) to figure out what’s appropriate for your biz.
I’m just saying that each person’s AI disclaimer and disclosures are gonna be different. Bc we have different needs and tolerances. Bc tech and trends evolve. Etc.
👉 How I Use These Disclaimers & Disclosures in My Business
As mentioned above, I worked with an AI tool to develop the AI Use & Disclaimer section of my Privacy Policy/Terms & Conditions. Maybe something similar would work for you?
I try to remember to include a disclosure on all new products/content I create. You’ll see these in the header or footer or on boilerplate pages.
Each disclosure is a little different bc how I use AI varies from project to project. And, obvs, I don’t include a disclosure on AI tools I create — that’s a too meta even for me LOL.
I’m not going back retroactively and adding AI disclosures to things I created before I had an AI policy — but I’ll add one if I go back and update those things and 1) know I used AI in their creation/updating, and 2) remember to. <Yeah, my memory for these kinds of things can be a bit Swiss cheesy….>
I share my use cases so you aren’t starting off from zero. Rather my AI Use & Disclaimer AI Use & Disclaimer), use it as inspo, a jumping off point to spark questions and ideas of your own.
👉 How to Create an AI Disclaimer or Disclosure for Your Business
Before you start drafting your AI disclaimer/disclosures, I encourage you to think about:
- Why you want to have these
- How and where you’ll use them
- Any assumptions, constraints, must-haves, boundaries, etc. that will shape your statements
If you opt to have an AI disclaimer/disclosures, design for authenticity and sustainability:
- See what feels good and true to you.
- Create an approach that’s realistic and that you’ll actually do.
When you’re ready to create your AI disclaimer/disclosures, pick Option 1 or Option 2:
Option 1: Adapt the Process I Used
When I created mine, there weren’t really any DFY or DWY statements I could leverage. So I had to mostly forge my own. Here’s how I did it.
- Reflection. This is that part up there ↑ about understanding why you’re doing this. It’s a mindset and policy/process shift, so it’s good to have self-buy-in.
- Research. I looked around for info on and examples of AI disclaimers and disclosures. This gave me an idea of what to include/exclude and snippets of text I liked. Keep the URLs of anything you like or found helpful handy. Jot down anything you liked/disliked and want in or omitted from your statements.
- Discuss. Talk it out with your preferred AI chat bot. Provide it with those URLs and your notes for reference and you’ll have a shorter convo and better results.
- Refine. Take whatever your Chatty gives you and use your human superpowers to review and edit the statements as necessary.
- Publish. Add your AI disclaimer/disclosures where needed. eg, your website, blog posts, products’ usage page, etc.
- Update. Periodically, review your statements and see if they need to be refreshed to keep pace with biz, tech, regulatory, platform, or marketplace changes.
* This page may have affiliate links. If you click on affiliate links, I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Option 2: Get Professional Help
This could be in the form of fill-in-the-blank style templates* (like these from Braden Drake of Not Your Avg Law Firm) or having a lawyer draft these for you.
The ones from Braden came out after I created my AI disclaimer and disclosures. But if I were embarking on this today, I’d start with his templates (cuz I’m a member of the Contract Club*). Then I’d plug in to the process I outlined above.
I can’t speak to this from personal experience, but some businesses may find it better to hire an attorney to create custom AI disclaimer and disclosure statements. This is obvs more expensive but is well worth the cost in certain circumstances.
If you need a lawyer to do this, reach out to Braden and tell him I sent you his way! If he can’t help you directly, he’ll probs be able to direct you to someone who can.
The Bottom Line: Transparency Is About More Than a Disclaimer
At the end of the day, I don’t think the goal is to slap an “AI was used here” disclaimer on everything you create and call it done.
The bigger goal is transparency:
- Being intentional about how you use AI
- Knowing where your human judgment and expertise enter the process
- Making those choices clear when it matters
Your approach doesn’t have to look exactly like mine — and it may change as your business, the technology, platform policies, and regulations evolve.
Start by figuring out what feels appropriate and sustainable for your biz. Then, create a simple policy you can actually follow. Revisit it periodically.
Whether you DIY your statements, adapt a template, or get professional legal help, a thoughtful AI disclosure practice can help you use AI more responsibly while keeping the very human parts of your business visible.
FAQs
Not necessarily. There is no universal rule requiring every business to have an AI disclaimer. However, having one can be a useful way to explain your general approach to AI, establish expectations, demonstrate transparency, and clarify how human expertise and judgment factor into your work. Specific legal or platform requirements may also apply depending on your business, content, audience, and where you publish.
The “definitions” used in this post are mine. I use them to distinguish one from the other. For my use, an AI disclaimer is a general statement about your business’s policies and approach to using AI. An AI disclosure is more specific: it explains how AI was used in creating a particular piece of content, product, or deliverable. For example, you might have a general AI policy on your website and a brief disclosure on an individual product or piece of content.
No — not necessarily. There isn’t one universal requirement to disclose every use of AI. Requirements can vary based on how AI was used, what you created, where you publish it, and which laws or platform policies apply. Some platforms require disclosure of certain AI-generated or meaningfully AI-altered content but don’t require disclosure for routine AI assistance such as brainstorming, editing, or outlining. Check the requirements that apply to your specific situation.
It depends on what you’re disclosing and why. A general AI policy might live on your website, in your Privacy Policy or Terms & Conditions, or on a dedicated AI Use page. A disclosure about a specific piece of content or product could appear in the header, footer, credits, description, product information, or another location where your audience is likely to see it. If a platform has specific placement requirements, follow those.
There’s no universal answer. AI-assisted content and AI-generated content aren’t necessarily treated the same way, and disclosure requirements can vary by platform, marketplace, law, and use case. Even when disclosure isn’t required, you may choose to disclose AI assistance as part of your own transparency policy. The key is to understand how AI contributed to the work and what human review, editing, fact-checking, expertise, or other value you added.
I’m curating these in my free community. You can check that out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sbsuccessfactor. (Go to the Guides.)
* This page may have affiliate links. If you click on affiliate links, I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
* This page may have affiliate links. If you click on affiliate links, I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
AI Disclosure for This Post: AI assisted me with the TL;DR, When Should You Disclose AI Use?, The Bottom Line: AI Transparency Is About More Than a Disclaimer, and FAQs sections and adjustments to the title, headings, and meta title and description. AI-assisted content doesn’t necessarily mean AI-generated content. I reviewed /edited all AI-created/-assisted content, as needed, and am responsible for the final content. Please contact me if you find errors or outdated info.
Not Legal Advice: I’m not a lawyer, and this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this post should be construed as or relied upon as legal advice, a legal opinion, or a substitute for professional legal counsel. AI laws, regulations, platform policies, and other requirements can vary by jurisdiction, industry, situation, and use case — and they can change over time. If you have questions about the legal or regulatory requirements that apply to your business or a specific use of AI, please consult a qualified attorney or other appropriate legal professional.
