Responsible use of AI in publishing

Last update: February 2025

1 Purpose and scope

FAO is mandated by its Basic Texts, specifically Article I of its Constitution, to “collect, analyse, interpret, and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture”, and to “promote and, where appropriate, (…) recommend national and international action with respect to [among others] the spread of public knowledge of nutritional and agricultural science and practice”.

For a knowledge organization such as FAO, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has many potential benefits for research, data analysis, data visualization and content creation. These guidelines provide instruction and support to FAO authors, editors and contributors who seek to use AI as part of the publishing process.

The guidelines aim to ensure that when AI technology is used in publishing at FAO, it will be applied in a way that adds value, while maintaining scholarly integrity and ethical principles in line with FAO’s mandate and obligations to its Members, partners and beneficiaries. They refer primarily to generative AI, as defined in the Practical Guidance on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for FAO Official Activities, but will in some cases make reference to other forms of AI. Recommendations regarding disclosure of use, for example, apply to all forms of AI.

Adherence to these guidelines is a prerequisite for the issuance of an FAO publication. The procedures and responsibilities set out in these guidelines form part of the framework for “Quality assurance” detailed in Publishing at FAO, and align with the FAO Policy on Intellectual Property Rights and “Policy on Open Access for FAO publications”. They complement FAO’s Practical Guidance on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for FAO Official Activities as well as Generative AI and FAO communications: OCC guidance for communicators.

These guidelines differ from the latter in their focus on areas specific to publishing, such as scholarly integrity, authorship and peer review, and their reference to FAO's quality assurance processes for publishing activities, including the Publications Workflow System (PWS). Given the fast-moving nature of the field of AI, they are subject to periodic revision and may be updated as required.

The guidelines apply to the content of all publications and documents under FAO copyright as covered by the Administrative Circular 2024/07 on the Categorization of FAO publications, which sets out the FAO Publications Taxonomy, including articles published in external journals, materials produced under FAO projects, co-publications produced with partners, and materials produced by Service Providers and Operational Partners under contract with FAO (see also 10 Third parties).

Exceptions to this are the Tier 3 and Tier 4 “Communication materials” categories^a in the taxonomy, where the guidance on Generative AI and FAO communications applies directly.

FAO’s Office of Communications (OCC) reserves the right to refuse to publish material derived from AI-generated content or processes if it judges that the material does not meet the criteria set out in this guidance.

2 Authorship and attribution

FAO authors may use generative AI tools both as part of the process to develop their publication and to polish the final product (see 4 Approved uses). However, raw, unedited AI-generated text may not be used in the final, published product. Generative AI tools must not be acknowledged as an author or co-author, nor cited as a source in FAO publications, although their use should be disclosed (see 8 Disclosure). 

According to FAO’s principles of integrity and responsibility outlined in the FAO White Paper on Responsible AI, human oversight is required to ensure the responsible use of AI tools. This includes publishing. For this reason, only human individuals or organizations (corporate authors) qualify as authors of FAO publications. FAO authors take full responsibility for the content they have submitted, give their approval for publication of their content, and are accountable for the originality and integrity of that content.
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Acknowledgement of authorship of FAO publications is determined by the rules for authorship set out in FAO's guidance on "Authorship and plagiarism".

3 Author responsibilities

Where AI-driven processes or outputs have been incorporated into the preparation or development of an FAO publication, authors are responsible for vetting those uses and outputs. They are required to certify in the PWS that the final submitted content is original and that neither their use of the AI model nor the final content infringes upon the rights of any third parties. Authors must also certify that they have carefully reviewed the material to ensure that it is free of factual errors, oversights or hallucinations caused by artificial intelligence. This includes using the iThenticate plagiarism-detection tool to check for similarity to any copyright-protected content.

To request access to iThenticate, contact PWS-support@fao.org. Consult "Authorship and plagiarism" for further guidance on ensuring original, “not similar” content.

4 Approved uses

In line with the “Quality assurance” framework for FAO publications, AI tools may be used to support FAO publications with research, data analysis and data visualization, as well as for ideation, summarization and editing. FAO publications may include AI-generated text content that has been significantly improved upon by the author, providing this does not make up the bulk of the publication. When using an AI model, authors may only submit prompts, information, and/or documents for which they own the intellectual property rights or are authorized by the owner for this purpose.

It should be noted that all uses of AI may entail risks such as bias or inaccuracy, and for this reason human oversight is always required. See 7 Ethical considerations for more information.

5 Non-approved uses

Text generated from AI tools may not be copied and pasted into publications; any AI-generated text must be significantly edited. The use of AI-generated art or illustrations is not currently allowed in FAO publications, defined as all products falling under the FAO Publications Taxonomy, except for the “Communication materials” categories under Tier 3 and Tier 4. Photorealistic images are not currently approved for any categories under the taxonomy.

OCC may refuse to publish material that does not meet the criteria set out in this guidance.

6 Copyright considerations

AI-generated content poses several challenges relating to copyright, with two main issues to be aware of here.

First, AI tools may have been trained on copyright-protected material. There is a risk that the use of their unmodified output in an FAO publication might expose FAO to legal claims involving copyright infringement or plagiarism. In addition to considerations of scholarly integrity and accountability, this is one of the reasons why authors must never copy and paste AI-generated text directly into a publication, and should always conduct a final check of their manuscript for similarity, using the iThenticate tool provided by OCC.

Second, while the copyright status of the raw output of generative AI tools may be treated differently in different jurisdictions, AI-generated content is, to date, generally not considered to be eligible for copyright protection. This means that material produced with the assistance of an AI tool, if not instilled with sufficient originality, may not be covered by FAO copyright and related licensing conditions for re-use.

For any queries regarding AI and copyright, contact Copyright@fao.org.

7 Ethical considerations

FAO strives to be non-discriminatory, inclusive and respectful of diversity. AI-generated material may include biases that stem from the original data that was fed into it, particularly as the corpora used to train such tools often reflect existing social inequities.

A review of AI-generated content for these considerations must be included as part of the publication’s divisional clearance process before the publication may be shared with the public, to ensure that the material does not communicate perspectives that could be considered unethical, discriminatory or damaging to the reputation of FAO, its Members, partners or beneficiaries.

8 Disclosure

In the PWS, FAO authors must indicate the names of all AI tools they have used, along with the purpose for which each was used. This information will be used by OCC to generate a disclaimer that will be displayed in the publication.

Where AI has been used for analysis, data visualization or the generation of any textual material, a disclaimer must appear in the publication. OCC may also request the use of a disclaimer or disclosure note for other cases of AI use, or in some cases to clarify that AI has not been used. When applicable, the disclaimer is placed at the bottom of the copyright page, or on the back cover of products that do not have a copyright page.

Disclaimer text: In preparing this publication, the author(s) used [GENERATIVE AI] for [REASON]. The text of this publication has been thoroughly reviewed for veracity, authority, data protection and ethical considerations.

FAO authors are also strongly encouraged to detail any use of AI as part of the research, analysis or other processes used in developing their publication in the methodology section of their publication, where this exists.

9 Confidentiality and data protection

User prompts must not include any confidential, internal, sensitive or personal data, as defined in the Data Protection Policy, unless FAO authors have consulted CSI and are using a tool that has been explicitly vetted by FAO for working with these types of data. AI tools that do not have the requisite protections in place may use or share this information in ways that are not compliant with FAO's policies. If you have any doubts or wish to use a tool that has not already been vetted for working on these kinds of data, consult CSI, in line with Practical Guidance on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Official Activities.

10 Third parties

In alignment with FAO’s Practical Guidance on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for FAO Official Activities, third parties providing publishing-related products or services to FAO should be familiar with and follow both this guidance and the guidance on Generative AI and FAO communications.

11 Accountability and responsibility

FAO authors or authoring teams are responsible for:

Vetting content for copyright, data protection and ethical issues, and for ensuring the originality of the content.
Vetting all prompts, information and documents submitted to the AI model to ensure they are not infringing the rights of third parties.
Certifying in the PWS that the material is original work and free of reputational risk, bias and copyright issues.

The PWS Unit Publications Coordinator is responsible for:

Ensuring technical clearances have been carried out, including a plagiarism check.

The relevant FAO Editorial Committee is responsible for:

Guaranteeing the overall quality of each publication.
Ensuring the application of AI-related and other publishing guidance for the publications under their purview.

OCC is responsible for:

Ensuring that all required clearances are logged in the PWS system and that all mandatory criteria have been met.
Generating and applying an appropriate AI disclaimer when applicable.

12 AI and peer review

FAO personnel who are carrying out peer review or managing peer review processes should apply the same considerations as set out in the previous sections of these guidelines. Importantly, given the sensitive nature of the peer review process, no material should be entered into generative AI tools that does not respect the level of confidentiality required by FAO (see 9 Confidentiality and data protection).

Furthermore, while generative AI tools may be helpful in supporting some aspects of the peer review process, such as summarizing a text or fine-tuning the language, they may also introduce bias or hallucinations that affect the fairness and quality of the review. The peer reviewer must carefully check for such issues and is fully accountable for the final review that is submitted.

FAO personnel carrying out peer review for other organizations, entities or journals must consult and abide by the applicable rules of such organizations, entities or journals, many of which prohibit all use of generative AI in the peer review process.