Free courses / AI for Creatives / Lesson 4
The honesty line
When to say AI was involved, and how.
Audiences, clients and competitions increasingly want to know how work was made. Some require disclosure; many judge it. The safe habit is to be able to describe your process clearly and truthfully whenever asked.
Keep a short note per project: what AI was used for, at which stage, and what you made yourself. It takes a minute and it answers the question before it becomes awkward.
If a use would embarrass you to disclose, that is your line. Stay on the comfortable side of it.
- Be able to describe your process truthfully.
- Keep a one-minute note per project.
- Embarrassment to disclose is the line.
ORBIT / THE NAVIGATOR
Say what was involved, plainly, before anybody asks. The people who get caught out are the ones who waited to be asked.
Try it
Write the process note for whatever you are working on now. Then ask yourself whether you would be happy sending it to the client. That is the whole test.
Here is how I actually made this piece: [describe your process]. Draft a short, plain note I could publish about where the tool helped, without either hiding it or making a performance of it.
Then paste it into whichever assistant you use — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot. Not sure which? Meet them all.
Progress is saved on this device.
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