What is the AI policy?

Where AI is concerned, we probably fall somewhere between the luddites and evangelists.

JATG has a firm policy on uses of AI tools. 

Our reason is that this is a place to explore the real Japan – and our take on what that is. With that in mind, it would feel wrong to have an AI tell you about Japan.

So, the words (and clunky sentences), experiences, and obesrvations (and any spelling mistakes) are all human-made.   

Similarly, we try to use real images as muhc as possible and to clearly denote where this isn’t the case. Most of the images on the site are from open source libraries such as Unsplash as well as from our own photo archives. 

So, the places we use AI on JATG include: 

• Research: Being limited by day-job activity on how much time can be dedicated on JATG means that AI and AI agents are deployed in research for articles.   
• Translation: JATG tries to combine English language and Japanese language insigths and sources where possible to get a fuller image of a topic. Japanse is a difficult language to read at the best of times, so AI is used to assist with translation of source material. 
• Editing: I didn’t realise how lucky I was to have copy-editors back in my journalist days. I do now. That is why I sometimes deploy AI as a copy editor to minimise the number of clunky sentences and spelling mitakes you have to endure. 
• Images: Sometimes there simply aren’t open source images available that match a given topic. JATG works on the definition of a shoestring budget, so paying for images through the likes of Getty is not an option. If images don’t exist, AI is sometimes used to generate them. In such cases, the use of AI is clearly marked.