The Thompson Earth Systems Institute (TESI) is committed to communicating Earth systems science to the people of Florida and beyond. Digital outreach, including blogs, social media, newsletters, and other online content, is an important part of that mission. 

Our communications team includes University of Florida students, and every student-created communications product is also an opportunity to learn and develop professional science communication and digital outreach skills. Because education is central to our work, we take a thoughtful and limited approach to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). 

TESI uses AI sparingly and only for minimal assistance. For our purposes, minimal assistance is limited primarily to grammar, clarity, and tone editing. Our communications products originate with our team, undergo substantive editing by our team, and are carefully reviewed by humans before publication. 

We do not use generative AI to write content from scratch or to generate images. In limited circumstances, we may use an AI-generated voice for a script that was written and edited entirely by a human. 

Any use of AI that falls outside of this policy will be clearly noted on the applicable communications product. 

Our goal is to use AI in a way that supports, not replaces, the human expertise, creativity, and learning at the heart of TESI’s communications work.