What readers deserve to know
The question isn't should I disclose AI use? (a blanket rule will always be wrong.) The question is what does the person on the other end of this work need to know to make a good decision?
Three practical cases.
Case 1 — The output is the work
You're publishing a blog post, an essay, a paper, an image. Your reader will form an opinion about you based on it.
Disclose. A single line at the bottom is enough:
This post was drafted with an AI assistant and edited by me.
Not a performance. Just a fact.
Case 2 — The AI helped you do the work
You used AI to brainstorm, to check your reasoning, to translate your draft, to rubber-duck a bug. The final output is yours.
Disclose only if asked. The analog is: did the calculator help you do your homework? Your teacher wants to know whether you can do the work. That's what honesty is about.
Case 3 — High-stakes public claim
You're making a claim that readers will act on — a policy position, a scientific claim, a recommendation.
Disclose + cite. Disclose that AI was involved and specifically name the sources the claim rests on. The bar is not "hide the AI." The bar is a smart reader should be able to verify your reasoning.
Three things you always owe
Regardless of case:
- You do not publish fabricated citations. Ever. This means checking every citation the AI gives you, or removing them.
- You do not claim expertise you don't have. If the AI drafted something about pediatric medicine and you're not a pediatrician, you don't suddenly become one by copy-pasting.
- You do not put someone else's name on AI output without permission. Ghost-writing with AI is fine with consent. Doing it without consent — especially in schools, workplaces, or journalism — is a breach.
A one-paragraph disclosure pattern
When you need one:
Drafted with AI assistance. All factual claims, citations, and named recommendations have been verified by me. Any errors are mine.
Say what you did, say what you verified, accept responsibility. That's the whole ethic in three sentences.
Homework
Write your own honest disclosure line — one you'd stand behind on your own work. Save it next to your self-description from the Description module.
Capstone next lesson: assemble everything into your own one-page AI Fluency playbook.
Inspired by Anthropic's "AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations".