“I really miss the good ole’ days.”

We’ve all heard a version of this sentiment at some point in our lives. Usually coupled with either an exhausted sigh or a wistful, reflective gaze. We’ve heard it. Or maybe we’ve even been the sigh-er. It’s a universal feeling.

As an attorney (and creative), who’s worked with creatives for 16 years, I’ve done this sigh more over the last three years than I have during my entire career.

Why? Because of AI.

Sure, it’s not all bad. But when it comes to creatives, we’re in the Wild Wild West. And somehow, we’ve all been cast as major characters:

Imagine you hire someone to work with you. Three months into the working relationship, your new team member excitedly shares that they bounced some ideas around with “Chat” about marketing your new jewelry you plan to debut this summer. You’re surprised but don’t think it’s a terrible idea until they share that they also shared details about your sourcing and jewelry making processes, that you’ve intentionally kept private.

You’ve always considered those methods part of what makes your work uniquely yours, so you’ve kept them close. You’re caught off guard, but you’re also not quite sure how to handle it. You’ve never discussed AI with this team member, and they were genuinely trying to help. Therein lies the conundrum. You can address what happened. But you can’t undo it and that’s the tougher pill to swallow.

Or, amidst a busy festival or exhibition season, you notice your summer intern is flying through projects at record-breaking speed. The work is high quality, so you don’t think much of it. It’s not until things slow down, over coffee, you casually compliment them on how much they’ve been getting done and ask for their secret. They proudly share that they connected Claude to the team email account, allowing them to review emails and prepare responses in record-breaking time. They also tell you how Claude Co-Work helped them quickly organize all the photos of your work, including work you haven’t publicly shared. As they continue sharing their productivity tactics, each one involving more of your private information, communications, and creative work being shared with AI tools, you think, “I think we missed a step here…”

Think of AI as one gigantic classroom filled with everyone you know, everyone they know, everyone they know, and on and on and on. We’re not all turning in the same exact homework. But we’re learning, creating, and problem-solving under the same ideologies and preferences. That’s the virtual classroom you’re stepping into each time you, or someone on your behalf, uploads your private information, ideas, processes, or creative work.

And that’s why what enters the classroom, who gets to bring it in, and under what circumstances matters. Now, what can you do about it?

We all know that most people are dabbling in AI these days, so let’s be proactive.

Having an AI Usage Policy allows you to set clear boundaries and establish your own code of ethics around how AI should, and should not, be used when someone is working with you. Even if you’re a team of one, it gives you the opportunity to decide what you’re comfortable with and where you draw the line before you’re faced with making those decisions in real time.

By having a policy in place, you can practice intentionality before exposure and reduce the risk that:

• You unintentionally expose your creations in ways that make them more vulnerable to copying.

• You accidentally create questions about whether your work is fully protected by copyright under the U.S. Copyright Office’s current approach to AI.
• You unnecessarily share the unique processes and methods that make your work unique and put it into a system that is outside of your control.
• You inadvertently disclose confidential information, whether it belongs to you or someone else who trusted you to keep it private.

Once you have a policy in place, you can manage expectations with everyone around you and make sure they’re working from the same standards. It creates space for questions to be asked, for boundaries to be understood before they’re crossed, and, most importantly, for you to preserve the uniqueness of your practice.

If you’re looking to get started on your own, here are a few tips:

• Take inventory of you and the team’s existing use of AI.
• Jot down your top 3 concerns about that use of AI. Hopefully this article can serve as a great prompt.
• Determine what boundaries you’d like the policy to implement (e.g., It’s okay to use AI for xxx. It may not be used for xxx).
• Draft the policy considering the above [the now approved use of AI] + [plus each boundary in specific terms] + [what risk each boundary helps to reduce]. The last part is not required but the context makes this all tangible for the team.
• Offer a team “lunch and discuss” to review the policy together and as a space to answer any questions. If you’re a team of one, it will be a good opportunity to revisit it and prepare to put it into practice.
• Finally, I recommend checking in every six months or so to see if it’s worth updating the policy against changes in your practice and/or questions that may have been asked about it.

As an alternative, until October 1st, you can also work with me to draft a custom AI policy for you.  Limited slots available. Sign up here.

The good ole days may be behind us, but we still get a say in what the next days look like.

Patrice Perkins

contributor