SRVO Takes Pledge to Never Use AI

by Ben BeEssen

The two most used letters in the English language right now are AI. The artificial intelligence (AI) boom, revolution, or whatever you want to call it, is in full swing. AI is becoming a part of the lexicon more and more everyday, and more and more people are using it everyday. Most people are being exposed to AI by using large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s CoPilot, and more.

These LLMs are making many everyday tasks much easier. You need to write an important email to coworkers- run it through ChatGPT. You need an outline for a Sunday school lesson- just tell CoPilot what you need. You need a 3 day trip itinerary for Atlanta- enter the prompt in Grok. These LLMS are also affecting the journalism field. Many writers and “journalists” are using LLMs to write their stories for them, and it’s very difficult if not impossible to know if AI is used.

Some have accused the SRVO and its writers of using AI to write our stories/articles. We have some of the best writers in the business, and our writers have a ton of journalistic integrity. I have never used AI to write a story, and as far as I know, none of our writers have used it. This is going to be a bigger issue going forward, so the SRVO wanted to get out in front of the issue and let The Valley know our stance on the issue.

All of the SRVO writers have signed a pledge to never use AI to write our stories/articles. Not only have we signed a no AI pledge, our IT department has even blocked access to the LLMs on our network and wifi. So, SRVO readers, you can rest assured our coverage of The Valley’s news will always be authentic and organic.

I was able to get a couple quotes from a couple other SRVO writers. Ima Phibber said, “I’m old, so I don’t even know how to use AI. But, it’s sad these young journalists can’t think for themselves. No one is going to know how to think in the future. What if the internet goes down? People will lose their minds.”

I. B. Lyon said, “I’m so glad we all signed this pledge. I have a couple writer friends at other organizations, and I know they use ChatGPT to write their stories. They have gotten accolades for their work, and it’s a bunch of crap. I work hard on my articles, and I work hard to get good reliable sources. I hope other news organizations will follow our lead.”

Will other news organizations sign a no AI pledge? We’ll see, but I’m not holding my breath.