We are just shy of two years since ChatGPT joined the scene. Business as we know it has been different ever since.
As a creative agency specializing in digital marketing and copywriting, we have spent a great deal of time navigating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in our business. Up to this point, artificial intelligence remains largely lawless, which is why we’ve already begun taking proactive measures to protect both ourselves and our clients from potential risks.
We’ve sent a company-wide AI announcement with a strict policy, created an accountability checkpoint, and integrated AI detection tools into our workflow to protect the integrity of our work and reputation.
In this article, we share the exact steps we’ve taken and implemented to ensure our standard of excellence throughout our team and services remains. Hopefully, it encourages you to build some parameters around this robo beast within your organization, too.
How Our Creative Agency is Navigating AI
In our workplace, we recognize the value as well as the potential risks associated with leveraging AI. That’s why we’ve taken precautionary measures to ensure we leverage AI for good—not for mass production or replacing human creativity.
Step One: We Created a Policy
Mama always said to grab the bull by its horns. If you don’t address ChatGPT or other AI software in your workplace, you leave your team in the dark about how to leverage it appropriately.
In June 2023, we issued a company-wide PSA that made it exponentially clear how our team is permitted to use AI in our workplace. This announcement introduced a new policy, now formalized as the “Usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI)” clause in our contracts. Each team member was required to acknowledge this policy by resigning their agreement.
What does our Usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy say?
Glad you asked. AI software can do many things. When establishing this policy, we chose to only concern ourselves with the elements that directly impact or interfere with our service offerings. We specialize in digital marketing and copywriting so it’s tailored accordingly.
The policy states that our team can leverage the use of AI as a:
➡️ “Creative Tool and Search Engine”
(with all content remaining 100% original and fact-checked)
➡️ “An Aid to Improve Sentence Composition”
(our editors love this one)
Step Two: We Implemented a Mandatory Disclosure Within Our Workflow
Yep. It’s mandatory for our team to disclose whenever AI software is used. Within ClickUp, our internal project management system, we added an ‘AI’ column in our workspace. For every single deliverable, our team is required to select “yes” or “no,” confirming whether or not any artificial intelligence tool was leveraged in their submission.
This disclosure not only holds our team accountable but it also helps us evaluate the effectiveness and impact of AI within our workflow. Take that, robots.
We know what you’re thinking—couldn’t they just lie? Yeah, sure. But honesty and transparency are non-negotiables around here. We offer premium services and our team understands how essential it is to maintain trust with our clients and partners. We’ve made it a top priority to build a virtuous company culture, and when it’s all said and done… the truth always reveals itself.
To further reinforce this commitment, we recently added an extra layer of accountability that helps us verify whether AI was actually used or not.
Step Three: We Screen Every Deliverable Through AI Detection Software
As mentioned, we implemented our AI policy in June 2023, allowing our team to leverage AI within the strict parameters we outlined. Alongside that, our editors would fact-check the information, mirror it against the brand’s writing guidelines, and then scan it for any obvious AI language. But we soon realized this approach wasn’t entirely foolproof. So, in June 2024, we began testing different AI detection software to enhance our review process.
The results have been interesting, and to be fully transparent, no AI detection tool is 100% accurate. Our CEO and COO have spent countless hours manually typing human-generated content word-for-word into these detection tools—only for it to still be flagged as AI-generated. The takeaway? AI detection tools are useful, but they’re not infallible. That’s why we take their results with a grain of salt.
What AI Detection Software Do We Use?
A few, actually. Since no single tool is 100% accurate, we use multiple programs to cross-check and establish a more reliable baseline. Here are the platforms we’ve tried and the ones that we currently use:
- CopyLeaks (free version)—quick and easy to use but has a daily limit
- GPTZero (paid version)—is one of our clients! Also simple to use and includes a helpful revision tool
- Grammarly (which has a free AI detection version)—offers basic detection but lacks more in-depth features
Final Thoughts on AI
The reality is, we’re still figuring out how to best navigate the use of AI in our industry. AI software, such as ChatGPT, can serve as valuable tools to spark ideation, increase efficiency, and improve the final outcome of a piece. However, we’ve made it clear to our team that no matter what, every deliverable must be human-generated—AI is only used to amplify. Additionally, we ask every client we onboard if, after reviewing our policy standards, they permit or prohibit the use of AI within their scope of work. This ensures transparency and alignment upfront—leaving no room for lapses in quality control. These standards are working for us right now, and we plan to keep sharing insights as we continue to collaborate alongside this rapidly evolving technology.
Implementing these policies and procedures and continuously finding ways to improve upon them is the best we can do to ensure excellence and integrity remain throughout our services.
The one thing we will continue to instill in our team is this: there’s something humans possess that robots will never be able to understand—and that’s being human. So while we embrace the technology, we’ll continue to proudly use our full-on human brains and remain at peace with the robots.
As for you? Support the humans and inquire about our services. #teamhuman
🔖 It may feel so Year 3000 to send out a policy on artificial intelligence but we have arrived, and there’s no turning back. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to implement something similar in your organization, take a peek at our AI announcement letter here.
Additional Resources
Read our other blogs on AI – found here
Reference our AI announcement letter – download here
Work with us instead of the bots – inquire here
Katie Dyal is the founder and editor in chief of The Collective Source, an online media source and full-service copywriting agency. Her motivation stems from her deep-rooted passion for words and incredibly talented team. She aims to build a company culture like no other and assemble an online publication that’s available to anyone who feels led to read it. She is a Christian, aspiring author, and Florida native currently living in southwestern Montana.
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