Generative AI Usage Statement

I do not use assistive or generative artificial intelligence (AI)  in editorial, proofreading, indexing, or client deliverables. All built-in AI features in the software I use are disabled by default. I offer fully human, hands-on services that are grounded in the principles of intellectual integrity and respect for human expertise and autonomy. While I unequivocally do not support the use of GenAI as a substitute for human creativity, scholarship, or editorial judgment and skill, I recognize that the technology isn't going anywhere and authors are free to choose whether and how they use these tools.  I also recognize that, for some people, AI functions as an assistive technology that supports accessibility by helping them express and communicate the ideas they have.  The publishing industry is still navigating these nuances, and I continue to reflect on where I believe the appropriate professional boundaries should lie. The following reflects where I stand today. 

Research and Non-Fiction Manuscripts

If you have used either assistive AI or generative AI at any stage of preparing your manuscript (even if it was to use it as a search engine of sorts), you must disclose this use before requesting an estimate.  Often, it is quite obvious when AI has been used. Being transparent about its use from the beginning allows me to provide an accurate estimate, and avoids the possibility of my having to withdraw from a project because of undisclosed AI use. 

     Manuscripts that have been drafted, revised, or edited using AI are subject to higher editorial fees. The use of AI frequently introduces errors that require extensive verification and correction.  And verifying and correcting these issues requires (believe it or not) substantially more editorial time than working with a fully author-written manuscript because everything must be independently verified to professional publishing and research or authoritative non-fiction standards. For example, generative AI may produce a perfectly plausible quotation, citation, historical detail, or factual claim that does not actually exist or is simply wrong, requiring me to trace and verify it rather than taking the author's research at face value. Assistive AI can likewise increase editorial time, though in different ways: it can require more intensive semantic checking, contextual verification, and attention to terminology and authorial voice because its interventions may be grammatically correct and entirely plausible while still being wrong in context. 

Fiction Manuscripts

One boundary I have established concerns creative writing.  I do not accept fiction manuscripts in which generative AI has been used to write or assist with the creative content.  My decision is based on three considerations.

1. Fiction editing is fundamentally about helping an author communicate their imagination, creativity, and perspective through story so that others can experience and connect with it. I became an editor to work with human creativity, not to salvage AI-generated manuscripts. 
2. More broadly, I do not believe creativity should be outsourced and delegated to a machine. My interest in literature, art, and other creative disciplines lies in human imagination, craftsmanship, and intellectual effort (I love seeing and working with intellectual effort). For that reason, I have no personal or professional interest in working with AI-generated creative works. 
3. Finally, my decision reflects environmental concerns. I believe we have a responsibility to be better stewards of our natural resources and to protect the environments that sustain both people and wildlife. I am not convinced that the large-scale infrastructure required to support generative AI represents a responsible use of energy, water, land, and other finite resources, particularly when it is being used to generate creative works that people are entirely capable of creating themselves. We have only one planet, and I believe its natural resources shouldn't be taken for granted and treated as expendable--especially over creative initiatives that should add to our world, not take from it. 

And because it also needs to be said... These principles reflect my own values and approach to editing rather than a judgment of authors or professionals who choose differently.

A quick note: You may notice a “Powered by GoDaddy Airo” label at the bottom of this website, which refers to GoDaddy’s built-in AI tool (for those who wish to use it). Despite my efforts to delete it permanently, it keeps reappearing. If you see it while visiting my site, it is because it is a platform default and has reappeared. Please know that I did not use it when creating this site's content, and its presence does not reflect my process or values.