Principles for AI use in image and video editing

AI cannot replace the expertise and creativity of a human. However designers and other creative professionals can benefit from AI tools when they use them intentionally.

Tools such as Adobe Firefly integrate generative AI into industry-standard software, allowing creative professionals to generate backgrounds, adjust lighting, expand images, or test variations directly within programmes they already use.

While these tools can be beneficial for efficiency and optimisation, and have now become a standard element of editing processes, we are committed to never depicting a misleading or distorted impression of our campus, people or facilities.

We will not use generative AI to:

• Edit any aspect of an individual’s image, which could result in it no longer representing their true appearance
• Misrepresent the spaces and facilities which make up any of our sites

Some processes we may use, which involve generative AI, include:

• Removing distracting elements from images, such as temporary signage or brand logos. This can be done where the altered image is still a realistic representation of the space and context.
• Extending images, where this does not significantly add new, invented content to the image. For example, this would be acceptable when extending the sky at the top of an image, or the ground at the bottom, but not if it added in new elements to the image that were not there before.
• Automatically generating subtitles for videos, which will always then be checked for accuracy.

Third party applications

Whenever AI is used as part of an integrated software package, care is taken to ensure these principles are followed.  Wherever possible, AI integrations that are applied to images and videos by third parties are switched off.

If you have any questions about this, or are unsure if your AI editing falls within our acceptable use principles, please email marketing@yorksj.ac.uk