Transparency and Disclosure

The Transparency Question

In the previous lesson, we explored privacy and data. Now let’s build on that foundation. You use AI to draft an email. Do you need to tell anyone?

You use AI to write a report. Does your boss need to know?

You use AI to create content for your business. Do your customers need to know?

There’s no single answer. It depends.

Why Transparency Matters

Trust depends on honesty. When people feel deceived, trust erodes—even if the AI content was good.

Expectations vary. What’s acceptable in one context may not be in another.

Capability misrepresentation. If someone thinks they’re getting YOUR skills and they’re getting AI’s, that might matter.

Future accountability. If something goes wrong with AI-generated content, who’s responsible?

When Disclosure Is Required

Clear cases where you must disclose:

• Academic work: Most schools require disclosure of AI use
• Legal documents: AI assistance may need to be disclosed
• Regulated industries: Some sectors have disclosure requirements
• Contracts that specify: If you agreed to original work, AI changes that
• Journalism: News organizations have standards about AI use

Know your context’s rules. Ignorance isn’t an excuse.

When Disclosure Is Expected

Even without explicit rules, consider norms:

• Hiring/applications: Resumes, cover letters, work samples
• Professional credentials: Work that represents your capabilities
• Creative work for attribution: Art, writing, music where authorship matters
• Expert opinions: When your judgment is being sought specifically

Test: Would the recipient feel misled if they found out later?

When Disclosure May Not Be Necessary

Lower stakes contexts:

• Internal emails where substance matters more than authorship
• Routine communications where AI is just helping with language
• Brainstorming and drafts that you significantly transform
• Editing and proofreading assistance
• Research help (assuming you verify and add judgment)

Context matters. A quick email doesn’t need the same scrutiny as a published article.

How to Disclose

When disclosure is appropriate:

Direct acknowledgment: “I drafted this with AI assistance and reviewed/edited it.”

Brief note: “This was created with AI tools.”

Process transparency: “I used AI for the initial research, then verified and expanded on it.”

Proportional disclosure: Match the level of detail to the context. A footnote for formal work, a casual mention for informal.

The Authenticity Balance

“But everyone uses tools. I don’t disclose when I use spell check.”

True. AI sits somewhere between spell check and hiring a ghostwriter.

Questions to find the line:

• How much of the output is AI vs. you?
• Is the output expected to represent your thinking specifically?
• Would the recipient care if they knew?
• What are the norms in this context?

Quick check: Before moving on, can you recall the key concept we just covered? Try to explain it in your own words before continuing.

The more AI does, and the more your personal input is expected, the more disclosure matters.

Context-Specific Guidance

Professional communications:

• Internal emails: Probably fine without disclosure
• Client deliverables: Consider relationship and expectations
• Published work with your name: Disclose

Academic settings:

• Know your institution’s policy
• When in doubt, disclose and ask
• Collaboration with AI is different from outsourcing to AI

Creative work:

• Evolving norms—be transparent
• “AI-assisted” is becoming a recognized category
• Misrepresenting pure AI work as human is problematic

Business content:

• Marketing: Emerging norms, be aware
• Customer service: Increasingly common and often acceptable
• Products built with AI: May require disclosure

The Trust Equation

Think about what you’re communicating:

When you present work as yours, you implicitly communicate:

• “This represents my thinking/skills”
• “I stand behind this”
• “This is what working with me gets you”

If AI significantly changes that equation, the recipient deserves to know.

Future-Proofing

Norms are evolving. What’s murky now may become clearer.

Safe approach:

• Err on the side of more transparency rather than less
• Keep records of how you used AI (in case questions arise)
• Be prepared for norms to shift toward more disclosure
• Don’t claim AI work as purely original human work

Exercise: Disclosure Scenarios

For each scenario, consider: Is disclosure needed? Why or why not?

1. Using AI to fix grammar and spelling in an email
2. Having AI write the first draft of a blog post, then editing heavily
3. Using AI to generate a job application cover letter
4. Having AI analyze data and write the conclusions for a research report
5. Using AI to create social media posts for your business

There’s no universal right answer. Think through the reasoning.

Key Takeaways

• Disclosure depends on context: requirements, expectations, and stakes
• Required disclosure: academic work, legal documents, regulated contexts
• Expected disclosure: hiring materials, credentials, expert opinions
• May not need: routine communications, tools for editing, heavily-transformed drafts
• Test: Would the recipient feel misled if they learned you used AI?
• Norms are evolving—err toward more transparency
• The more AI does, and the more your personal input is expected, the more disclosure matters

Next: Human judgment and AI limits—what AI shouldn’t decide.

Up next: In the next lesson, we’ll dive into Human Judgment and AI Limits.