📅 Day 22 of 30 · Week 4: Ship & Scale · ⏱ 20 minutes
Why You Need an AI Policy
Your team has been using AI tools for three weeks. Some people are probably already more comfortable than others. Before you scale this to the whole organization, you need clear guidelines: what’s encouraged, what’s prohibited, and where human judgment is non-negotiable.
An AI editorial policy isn’t about restricting AI use — it’s about giving your team confidence. When they know the boundaries, they’re more willing to experiment within them.
The Framework: Green / Yellow / Red
🟢 Green — Freely Encouraged
Things your team should use AI for without hesitation:
- Generating headline alternatives
- Writing meta descriptions and SEO excerpts
- Repurposing content across platforms
- Newsletter draft generation
- Internal link suggestions
- Taxonomy audits and cleanup
- Performance and site audits
- Research and background synthesis
🟡 Yellow — Use with Review
AI assists, but a human must review and approve before publication:
- First drafts of articles (always rewritten by a journalist)
- Social media posts (reviewed by social team before posting)
- Content packages (editor reviews all pieces)
- Bulk content updates (spot-check at least 20%)
🔴 Red — Human Only
AI should never be the final voice on:
- Factual claims about living people
- Legal or medical information
- Direct quotes and attribution
- Breaking news first reports
- Opinion and editorial stance
- Sensitive topic coverage (conflict, disaster, etc.)
Exercise: Draft Your Policy
Use Claude via MCP to create a first draft tailored to your publication:
Based on what you know about our publication (our topics, tone, audience),
draft an AI editorial policy using the Green/Yellow/Red framework.
Include:
1. A statement of principles (3-4 sentences on our approach to AI)
2. Green/Yellow/Red lists customized to our specific content areas
3. Disclosure policy — when do we tell readers AI was involved?
4. Quality control checklist — what must be verified before publishing
AI-assisted content?
5. Escalation process — who decides edge cases?
Create this as a draft page on our site titled "AI Editorial Policy".💡 Tip: Your policy should evolve. Review it quarterly. As AI tools improve and your team gets more comfortable, some Yellow items may move to Green. The key is having a starting point that your team can reference and trust.
✅ Key Takeaway: An AI editorial policy gives your team permission to innovate within guardrails. It’s not about slowing down — it’s about scaling up safely. The Green/Yellow/Red framework makes it simple to communicate and enforce.