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Principle 09 · Before you share · Disclosure
People are told when AI played a part they would reasonably want to know about, and AI is never used to deceive.
Key question
Would they feel misled if they knew how this was made?
Benefit
Trust that survives the moment people learn how the work was made.
An email a tool helped polish needs no label. People do deserve to know when they’re talking to a machine, when a realistic image or voice is synthetic, and when work presented as your expertise came mostly from a tool. Saying so keeps their trust, and being found out loses it.
Ask whether they would feel misled if they knew how the work was made. If they would, tell them.
Since August 2, 2026, the EU AI Act’s transparency rules apply. People must be told when they are interacting with an AI system, unless it’s obvious, and deepfakes must be disclosed. A voluntary EU code of practice, which the Commission judged adequate in July 2026, sets out how providers can mark AI-generated content and how deployers can label deepfakes. Other countries have their own rules, and your clients may have contract terms on AI use. Where the law fits has the detail.
AI is very good at inventing plausible experience: an anecdote, a quote, a result. Your credibility depends on everything under your name being true. Use AI to tell your real stories well, and never to create a realistic likeness or voice of a real person without their consent.
A prompt before and after improvement, and the part a person does outside the prompt.
Marketing and images
Before
“Write a LinkedIn post about how I turned around a struggling team, with a moving anecdote.”
After
“Here are my notes on three real moments from last year. Help me turn one into a LinkedIn post in my voice. Use only events, numbers and quotes from my notes.”
Your part
Publish only what happened. If you add an AI-generated image of people, say so.
Why it works: AI helps you tell the story well, and your notes keep it true.
Customers
Before
The greeting of a customer-facing chat assistant:
“Hi, I’m Sara! How can I help you today?”
After
The same assistant, introduced honestly:
“Hi, I’m the virtual assistant for [company], an AI. I can help with orders and returns, and I’ll connect you with a person whenever you ask.”
Your part
Make sure the handover to a person works, and test it the way customers would.
Why it works: People deserve to know they’re talking to a machine, and to reach a person when they need one.
Marketing and images
Before
“Create a photo of our customer [name] happily using our product.”
After
“Create an illustration of a person using our product in a bright kitchen: stylised, and clearly not a photo of a real person.”
Your part
Use real customers only with their written consent and real photos. Label synthetic images where your channel or the law requires it.
Why it works: A realistic AI image of a real customer would pass for a real photo, which makes it a deepfake. A stylised illustration can’t be mistaken for a photo.
Agree one simple rule for when your team mentions AI’s part: for example customer-facing chat, realistic images and client deliverables. Write it into your charter.
Team toolTeam AI charterWhat each source establishes, and its limits. The practices and recommendations on this page are ours, and the facts come from the sources. See every source we use.
Founderz (2026). Principle 9: Transparency about the use of AI. The RUAI Standard, 2026 edition. Developed by Founderz in collaboration with Microsoft. https://responsibleai.founderz.com/toolkit/principles/transparency
Licensed under CC BY 4.0: share and adapt with attribution.