How does Black Squirrel use GenAI?
“The outputs of generative AI can be protected by copyright only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements.”
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can be an amazing tool – you can easily have ChatGPT write an article like this in less than 30 seconds and post it straight to your website before breakfast. But, did you know that a GenAI output that does not contain human authorship is not protected by copyright laws? This is not ideal for any brand or individual looking to foster a unique idea.
As amazing as GenAI can be for many tasks in our daily lives, it’s worthwhile having a human at the helm who knows what they're doing when it comes to writing and marketing.
Black Squirrel draws a clear line where GenAI’s help ends and a human creates intellectual property for you that is professional, original, and copyrightable. Black Squirrel also takes a strong stance on advocating and practicing proper GenAI usage practices, so that your ideas, proprietary business information, and content remain protected.
Why Black Squirrel has a GenAI Policy
Plain and simple, Black Squirrel has put a GenAI policy in place because of how the technology works. As the company’s owner, I want you to feel confident that data privacy and intellectual property (IP) integrity are top priority when working with Black Squirrel. Even as GenAI can be a great tool for saving clients’ time and money on certain tasks, Black Squirrel limits its use for the following reasons.
“ChatGPT and other tools like it are trained on large amounts of publicly available data. They are not designed to be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other copyright laws,” Gartner explains in a nicely detailed article I encourage you to read further.
Gartner goes on to share that there is a list of risks at play when using GenAI for business as a result of the publicly available data it leverages to create its outputs. I’m going to call out three that are most relevant to this conversation:
“ChatGPT and other tools like it are trained on large amounts of publicly available data. They are not designed to be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other copyright laws.”
Accuracy: GenAI systems sometimes produce inaccurate and fabricated answers.
Intellectual property: There are currently no verifiable data governance and protection assurances regarding confidential business information. Users should assume that any data or queries they enter into the ChatGPT and its competitors will become public information, risking IP exposure.
Copyright infringement: On the flipside of No. 2, there is the added risk that you’re infringing on someone else’s copyrighted works.
Black Squirrel does not put intellectual property into GenAI
So what are the limits Black Squirrel has in place? I say this loud and clear: Black Squirrel will never input a client’s data, content, or any other intellectual property into a generative AI system.
If Black Squirrel uses generative AI tools during our work together, queries are solely driven by information already publicly available and then vetted for accuracy and project alignment before any next steps.
How Black Squirrel uses GenAI
The work that you gain from Black Squirrel is your intellectual property, so when Black Squirrel utilizes GenAI it is only as part of the preparation process. If Black Squirrel uses GenAI during the following stages of your project, it will be disclosed to you. You can opt out of including GenAI in your project.
1. Brainstorming ideas
Black Squirrel may ask a GenAI system for ideas that can be part of a client’s brainstorming discussions. The goal is to provide thought-provoking ideas that the client and Black Squirrel can build on.
2. Saving time on research
One of the best ways GenAI can assist on a project is cutting down on time it takes to research topics. Any research information acquired by the use of GenAI will be vetted and confirmed.
3. Strategizing a first draft
GenAI can provide helpful insights on interesting ways to organize a piece of writing. If Black Squirrel is using GenAI for your project, this is where it ends. Black Squirrel will take it to the finish line from here.