Ethics and AI policy
We use software, including AI, to keep up with the volume of public records in our cities. We use people to decide what is true and what gets published. This page explains where the line is.
A person reviews every story
No story is published automatically. Every story waits in a review queue until the editor, Metro News Admin, reads it and either accepts it, edits it or discards it. The editor checks names, numbers, dates and places against the linked source records.
What AI does here
- Sorts new public records by topic and city, and flags the ones that look newsworthy.
- Writes a first draft of routine stories from a single official record, such as a city news release, a meeting agenda or a school board document.
- Checks its own draft for statements the source does not support. Those are flagged for the editor.
What AI does not do here
- It does not write stories that name a person accused of a crime, a crime victim or a minor, or stories about a death or someone's health. The editor writes those.
- It does not invent quotes. Quotes come only from records, recordings or interviews.
- It does not make images. We don't publish AI-generated photos or illustrations.
- It does not decide what is published. The editor does.
Weather and transit alerts are written from fixed templates using data from the National Weather Service and Metro Transit. No AI is involved, and the editor still approves each one.
Labels
Every story ends with a note saying how it was made. Stories drafted with AI say: "Drafted with AI from public records and reviewed by Metro News Admin before publishing." Stories the editor reported and wrote say so. Every story links to its sources.
Headlines from other newsrooms
Around Minnesota and Nation & World list headlines from other newsrooms. Each one links to the original story, shows who published it and appears exactly as that newsroom wrote it. We don't write, edit or summarize these headlines, and no AI touches them. We leave out headlines about crime, deaths and injuries, and the editor can take any headline down.
Naming people in crime stories
We name adults accused of crimes only after they are formally charged, and only when the charging agency has released the name. We do not name juveniles accused of crimes. We do not publish mug shots. If charges are dismissed or a person is acquitted, we will update the story when we learn of it, and we consider requests to remove names from old arrest stories.
Dates and updates
The date on a story is the date it was first published. We don't backdate stories. When we change a story after publishing it, we say what changed at the bottom of the story. See our Corrections policy.
Independence
Advertisers and sponsors never see stories before publication and have no influence on coverage. Sponsored content is always labeled. The editor does not cover organizations they belong to or do business with without disclosing it in the story.
Questions
If you think we got something wrong, or you have a question about how a story was made, email editor@example.com.