Editorial Standards & AI Disclosure

TheCRPulse uses artificial intelligence in its reporting process. This page explains exactly how, and what we do to keep our journalism accurate and accountable.

Where AI is used

• Monitoring: software watches public feeds — city and county press releases, National Weather Service alerts, council agendas — and flags newsworthy items.
• Research: an AI system gathers primary sources and assembles a research packet where every fact is tied to a source URL. Facts it cannot verify are labeled unconfirmed and excluded from drafts.
• Drafting: an AI system writes a draft using only the verified facts in the research packet. It may not introduce information from anywhere else.
• Fact-checking: a separate AI pass re-verifies every claim in the draft against its sources and flags anything unsupported for the human editor.

Publication review

Every AI-assisted story must pass source, current-version fact-check, visual-provenance, duplicate-event, and publication-readiness controls. A capped number of eligible low-risk stories may receive final approval from the automated Editor-in-Chief; that decision is recorded and disclosed on the article. Human editors edit, request changes, reject drafts, and handle every sensitive, blocked, legally uncertain, or escalated story.

Transparency

• Every AI-assisted story carries a disclosure note at the end of the article, linking back to this page.
• Every story lists all sources used in a visible Sources section.
• Errors are corrected publicly under our Corrections Policy.

What we never do

• Publish AI-generated content without independent fact-checking and publication-readiness review.
• Invent sources, quotes, or facts.
• Publish unverified allegations against private individuals.
• Reveal the identity of anonymous tipsters.