This policy sets the ethical baseline for everyone who reports, edits, or contributes to AI Data News. It is not optional. Violations are grounds for removal from the masthead.
Conflicts of interest
- Staff and regular contributors disclose to editors any financial position (stock, options, crypto holdings) in companies they cover. Material positions disqualify the writer from covering that company.
- Staff do not accept paid speaking, consulting, or advisory work from companies in their coverage area without written approval from the editor in chief.
- Personal relationships with sources or subjects must be disclosed; close relationships disqualify the writer from coverage.
Gifts, travel, and review units
- Gifts with a retail value above $50 are returned or donated. We do not accept cash, gift cards, or cash-equivalent prizes from companies we cover.
- Travel: we pay our own way to launches, briefings, and conferences whenever feasible. When we accept vendor-paid travel (rare, for events with no commercial alternative), we disclose it in any resulting coverage.
- Review units are either purchased, returned at the end of the review window, or — for items with no resale market — kept and disclosed. We disclose the source of every review unit at the bottom of the article.
Plagiarism & attribution
Plagiarism — using another publication’s words or original reporting without attribution — is grounds for immediate termination. When we build on reporting first published elsewhere, we link to and credit the original outlet in the first reference.
Generative AI ethics
- We do not pass off AI-generated writing as human reporting.
- We do not generate fake quotes, fake sources, or fake images.
- We disclose AI assistance when it materially shaped the article.
- We treat training-data provenance as a legitimate editorial topic and apply the same scrutiny to vendors’ AI claims as we apply to other product claims.
Independence from advertisers
Advertisers have no influence over editorial decisions. The newsroom does not see advertising contracts. Advertising staff do not see embargoed editorial content. A company’s decision to advertise, or not advertise, does not affect how we cover it.