Ethical AI
AI as a tool, with people in charge
Research depends on trust: in the evidence, in the people who gathered it, and in the communities it describes. AI can help us build faster and spend more of your budget on thinking, but only if it is used carefully and openly. This is how we use it, and where we do not.
How we use AI on client projects
Faster, better WordPress sites
Most of our client sites run on WordPress. AI helps us find what slows a site down, build custom plugins and functionality, and improve search visibility. Every change is reviewed by a person before it is relied on.
People decide, people check
AI can draft and speed things up. It never decides. Code, text, and data are reviewed by a person before they are relied on. The one exception is machine translation, which some projects choose when human translation is out of reach, and we are open with you about its limits.
Real people, real places
We do not create AI-generated photographs or video. The lived experience of your communities and partners deserves real images and real voices, not a convincing imitation.
Your data stays protected
When data goes into an AI tool, for a visualisation or a data system, it goes only into paid professional accounts whose terms say our inputs are not used to train the provider’s models, and which have proper security controls.
Your words stay yours
Your content normally comes from you, and we rarely use AI to write it. Where time or budget is tight, machine translation lets a site reach more people, and we recommend human review for anything sensitive, legal, or technical.
You stay in control
You will know which AI tools touch your project, and where your contract requires approval of them, we get it first. If your institution or funder restricts AI, tell us and we will work within it.
Our ethical AI policy
Last updated 30 September 2026
Where we use AI
- WordPress performance. Finding what slows a site down, such as heavy images, plugins, and database queries, and fixing it.
- Custom plugins and functionality. Writing, reviewing, and testing the code behind features that suit your project, from event booking to data displays.
- Search visibility. Improving site structure, metadata, and technical SEO practice so your research can be found.
- Data work. Cleaning, structuring, and visualising data when building data systems and dashboards.
- Drafts for a person to finish. Layouts, and occasionally text, that we edit, check, and approve.
- Machine translation. When a client does not have the time or budget to translate everything by hand. Human review is available, and we recommend it for anything sensitive, legal, or technical.
On WordPress sites we work with an AI assistant connected through a paid account with the AI provider. Everything it produces is reviewed by a person before it is relied on.
Where we do not
- We do not create AI-generated photographs or videos. We use real images, or none.
- We do not invent quotes, testimonials, people, or statistics.
- We rarely use AI to write your content, because your words come from you. If that changes on a project, we agree it with you first, and a person edits and approves everything.
- We do not publish AI-written code, text, or data that a person has not reviewed, and we do not hand responsibility for accuracy to a tool. The exception is machine translation, when a client chooses it, and we are open about its limits.
Client data
Building data systems and visualisations sometimes means putting client data into AI tools. When we do, we use only paid professional accounts, where the provider’s terms state that our inputs are not used to train its models and where security controls are in place. We share the minimum the task needs, and we keep personal data out of AI tools wherever the task allows. Where a contract requires approval of the tools that handle its data, we obtain it first.
Being open about it
We will tell you which AI tools we use on your project, and we will note any AI assistance in our handover documents. If you would rather we did not use AI on your project, or on part of it, we will agree that with you.
This website
This website is built with Astro and was designed and built by Martin Muir using an AI coding assistant. Every page, statement, and figure on it was reviewed and approved manually. It contains no AI-generated photographs or video.
Accountability
Martin Muir is responsible for everything we deliver, whatever tools were used to make it. AI uses energy, so we use it where it saves real effort rather than by default; see our sustainability page. If you have a concern about how we have used AI, please email martin@academicdigital.co.uk. We review this policy whenever our practice changes.
Want this standard built into your project?
Also see our privacy, accessibility and sustainability pages.