In this section

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing and Communications

When marketing and promoting the University of Michigan-Dearborn, it is the responsibility of all members of the university community to ensure any representation of our people, places, and experiences are authentic and accurate. While the use of artificial intelligence (AI) can increase efficiency in marketing and communications efforts, these efficiencies must not compromise the authenticity of our university.

All faculty and staff involved in marketing and communications activities are required to adhere to the following guidelines regarding the use of AI. These guidelines are designed to safeguard the university’s reputation and uphold our commitment to authentically representing the UM-Dearborn community. Please note that these do not apply to teaching and learning use. Information about the use of approved U-M Generative AI tools in teaching and learning contexts can be found on the digital education website. 

These guidelines are subject to change as technology evolves and new use cases become available. As a member of the campus community, it is your responsibility to stay up to date on guidelines and use the technology responsibly.

General Guidelines

  • Thorough review processes: Anything generated from AI must be reviewed thoroughly and/or edited by a person before being used and shared. Individuals are responsible for developing effective review processes based on their type of work. 
    • For example, written content generated by AI should not simply be copied and pasted into our website. Content can be generated, then reviewed and edited to be personalized and match our style guide, and then can be used.
  • Fact checking outside of AI results: AI can “hallucinate”, producing false information that is represented as factual. Any information received from AI must be fact-checked with original sources and confirmed before being used and shared.
  • No AI generated multimedia depicting people and places: In line with our brand standard of no clip-art allowed, no AI-generated imagery, video or audio that depicts people and university places is allowed when marketing and promoting the university.
  • Must follow all university privacy and security policies: Any use of AI for work must follow U-M’s data protection and privacy regulations.

Allowable Uses for Using AI in Marketing and Communications

  • Idea brainstorming: Examples can include creating mood boards, creative direction, sourcing other brand examples and content outline generation.
  • Drafting Content: Examples can include getting first drafts of social media posts, web pages or sections for a brochure. Any content generated should be used as a starting point to edit.
  • Editing Content: 
    • For written content, examples can include checking format, style and grammar in content you generated. 
    • For photography, examples can include limited, non-deceptive enhancements such as erasing unwanted elements, removing or replacing backgrounds, minor generative fill to clean up distractions, basic portrait retouching (e.g., color correction, lighting balance, auto focus, or blemish reduction), photo enlargement, noise reduction and batch editing for consistency. These tools can be used to enhance image quality but not alter the subject or context of the image.
      • This work should be done by the original photographer. AI tools should not be utilized to add, remove, or substantially change the people, actions or settings in a photo that could be misleading, misrepresentative or inconsistent with UM-Dearborn’s values and mission or our visual and branding standards. All images featuring visibly recognizable people should have a filming and photography consent form signed.
  • Productivity/Organization: Examples can include generating timelines, outlines, or data analysis.
  • ADA compliance uses: Examples can include checking PDFs for accessibility and creating alt text for images.

Prohibited Uses for Using AI in Marketing and Communications

  • Multimedia generation that depicts people and places (photos, illustrations, videos and audio)
  • Fact checking
  • Uploading confidential data (please refer to U-M’s Safe Computing for guidance)
  • Writing articles, op eds or other authored content

If you have questions about appropriate use, please reach out to the External Relations team at [email protected].

References