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AI Marketing & Communications Guidelines
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that learn from large datasets to create new content — such as copy, images and code — in response to user prompts. Western University encourages its community to explore and use generative AI in ways that support creativity, learning, and innovation, while maintaining human judgment, accountability, and ethical responsibility. The use of generative AI remains subject to the university’s existing policies and standards, including Western’s AI Governance and Policy.
This page is intended to provide guidelines for the responsible use of AI in marketing and communications at Western. The purpose is to establish boundaries and consistent usage guidelines for our community. Visit this page for a detailed guide with examples on how to effectively construct prompts that adhere to Western’s brand voice and tone.
AI is changing rapidly and these guidelines will be updated as appropriate. At the end of the day, you are responsible for ensuring any content you create, whether with AI or not, is accurate and respects all governing laws, standards and policies. If in doubt, you are encouraged to seek the guidance of your supervisor. You are also encouraged to explore all AI resources and training materials available on the AI at Western website.
Updated: Date xx, 2026
What AI Can Do for Us
AI can be a valuable tool in day-to-day marketing and communications tasks. It can help us:
- Refine written content for articles, social media, websites and advertisements
- Support production tasks such as resizing photos or videos, enhancing backgrounds and refining visual assets
- Generate thought starters for plans and provide input into creative briefs
- Summarize long documents, distill key points, clarify complex or technical material and support internal understanding of complex or technical material
- Support early-stage brainstorming of campaign themes, slogans or messaging approaches to support creative development
- Analyze and summarize audience feedback, surveys or engagement metrics
- Draft or refine video and audio scripts and generate transcripts for audio and video materials
- Assist with audio refinements such as removing unwanted noise and improving audio clarity and quality
- Draft alt tags, metadata and captions for web and multimedia assets
- Remove unnecessary details from photos or refine the background while preserving the integrity and intent of the original image
How to Use AI Responsibly
By using AI responsibly, we protect our community and brand, and ensure our work remains authentic. At Western, responsible use in marketing and communications includes:
Maintaining the integrity and intent of the original asset. Do not use AI to alter or add fictitious Western campus buildings or landmarks, or to create or modify images or likenesses of staff, faculty, students or other community members in ways that misrepresent reality.
Reviewing all AI-generated or AI-edited content for accuracy. All AI-generated text, summaries, captions, scripts and claims must be reviewed and fact-checked, as AI tools may produce incorrect, incomplete or misleading information.
Protecting all personal and proprietary information. Do not input personal or sensitive information into AI tools, including data related to staff, faculty, students, alumni, donors, patients or community members. This restriction is mandatory and applies to any personally identifiable, academic, employment or health-related information.
Being transparent when AI has been used in your work, where appropriate. When AI has been used to generate or meaningfully refine content, this use should be clearly disclosed in a caption, credit, byline or appropriate location.
Checking and correcting for any bias, assumptions and unintended impacts. AI outputs must be reviewed and corrected to ensure they are fair, inclusive and appropriate and do not reinforce bias, stereotypes or unsubstantiated assumptions.
Where AI Should Not Be Used
To protect privacy, trust and the university’s integrity, AI should not be used to:
- Create or alter realistic images of identifiable people or places
- Generate people or voices that appear real
- Edit or manipulate images or videos in ways that change the original meaning