One day this summer as I was experimenting with AI tools, my other project was to write a client proposal. While I was doing so, along came an element that I would normally stop and brainstorm for about 15 minutes. But now I had a tool.
So I used it.
The problem
The need was to come up with title ideas for a report. The client had specific parameters, and a love of wordplay. I’d been using AI for brainstorming titles in my own work, so I thought this might be a good real-world test. I was careful not to include any proprietary client information—just prompted it with the general topic and asked for 10 title options that would work in both English and French.
The output was better than I could have done in less time. But what to tell the client? We hadn’t discussed using AI tools outright, other than to not include any information. I felt confident about that, but where I did feel uncomfortable was about presenting AI-generated ideas as my own work. The turnaround time was too fast—I replied the next day. It felt important to be transparent about what tools I’d used.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱
I shared the list and clearly marked it as “list generated by AI.” Would I have given credit if I’d brainstormed with colleagues? Not sure. But with AI, it felt important to be clear about the source.
Perhaps this will change as we all move ahead to using AI with everything, but for now I’m planning to be transparent about AI use, especially for substantive work. I will also check contracts for AI policies before using these tools. And ask first if there’s any uncertainty. And pretty much always anonymize projects so no information could be traced back to the client.
Having these conversations upfront saves everyone from awkward mid-project moments.
How are you handling AI transparency with your clients?
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