Module 7 · Lesson 7.4

How to Disclose AI Help: Lines You Can Copy

2 min read · Updated

Disclosing AI help doesn't have to be awkward or defensive. A good disclosure is one or two plain sentences that tell the reader what AI did and what you did. This lesson covers when you need one and gives you lines you can adapt.

When to disclose

Situation Disclosure
School work where the policy asks for itRequired. Follow the format your teacher gives.
Client work where the contract mentions AIRequired.
Academic papers and journalsUsually required. Most publishers have a policy.
Published articles and blog postsGood practice, especially if AI drafted large parts
Everyday work emails and documentsUsually not needed, unless your employer says so
Grammar and spell checks onlyUsually not needed, unless a policy specifically says otherwise

When you're unsure, disclose. It costs one sentence. Being found out later costs a lot more.

What makes a good disclosure

  • Specific. Say what AI did: brainstorming, outlining, a first draft, editing. "AI was used" tells the reader nothing.
  • Short. One or two sentences. Put it where the reader will see it, usually at the end.
  • Honest about your part. Say what you did too: the research, the ideas, the final edit, the fact-check.
  • Not apologetic. Using a tool well isn't something to apologize for, where it's allowed.

Lines you can adapt

School assignment

I used ChatGPT to brainstorm possible topics and to check my grammar. The research, argument and all paragraphs are my own. My prompts are listed in the appendix.

Client deliverable

Parts of the first draft were produced with an AI writing tool from our interview notes. Every section was then rewritten, fact-checked and approved by our team.

Blog post or article

How this was written: I drafted the outline and the explainer sections with AI help, then added my own results and examples and edited the whole piece. All figures come from our own data.

Newsletter

I use AI to help turn my notes into a first draft each week. The opinions, links and mistakes are all mine.

Research summary at work

This summary was drafted with Copilot from the three reports linked below and checked against them by me. Please flag anything that looks off.

Disclosures to avoid

Vague This content may have been created with the assistance of AI tools.
Clear AI helped with the outline and first draft. I wrote the examples and checked every fact.

"May have been" sounds like you're hiding something, even when you're not. Say what actually happened.

Keep a short record of how you used AI on anything important: which tool, what for, and your prompts if they were long. It makes disclosure easy, and it's useful evidence if your work is ever questioned. See lesson 6.4.
Try this

Write a one-line disclosure for the last thing you wrote with AI help, using the principles above. Then check it against the rules where it's going: your school, your workplace or your publisher. That's the last lesson. All that's left is the final project.