AI in BYU Communications

Approved October 5, 2026

At Brigham Young University, we communicate to assist children of God “in their quest for perfection and eternal life” (BYU Mission). Our work must meet the highest standards of integrity, excellence, accuracy, authenticity, and creativity.

This document describes AI use cases for BYU communicators and offers practical guidelines. The guidelines are based on the following documents:

• Principles for Church Use of Artificial Intelligence
• Church Educational System AI Governing Principles
• The Aims and AI: Guiding Principles for BYU

Other helpful resources include Elder Gerrit W. Gong’s 2026 university conference talk, “Becoming BYU in an Age of Artificial Intelligence,” as well as his AI workshop, “Faith, Dignity, and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of Artificial Intelligence.”

This document will be reviewed and updated regularly.

These guidelines apply to all BYU communicators—employees, students, or alumni volunteers, whether communicating with internal or external audiences and in any medium. A “communicator” is any individual whose work results in content—text, image, audio, or video—that represents BYU and is published or distributed through university-owned or university-affiliated channels, including but not limited to BYU-affiliated social media accounts, websites, email newsletters, magazines, other printed publications, podcasts, video channels, or marketing campaigns for university-sponsored events or objectives.

• Most text in BYU communications should be generated by humans. Human authors should create the first draft and write final published text.
• AI can be a helpful tool in various parts of the writing process, including brainstorming, researching, summarizing, transcribing notes, providing feedback, correcting grammar, and assisting with fact-checking. Such work does not need to be attributed. Avoid having AI generate portions of the text in the revision process.
• BYU communicators are responsible for the accuracy of the final text and should carefully check all facts, quotes, and sources.
• Functional text elements (not intended to be read by audiences) can be generated by AI, including metadata and alt text. They must be reviewed by a human for accuracy.
• Supportive text elements intended as reader aids—such as closed captioning or text summaries of a longer article—may be generated by AI if they are clearly attributed and if they are carefully reviewed by a human for accuracy.

• If AI-generated voices are used in video, podcasts, or other media, the audio or video must clearly provide attribution either at the beginning or the end with a statement such as “This audio was generated using artificial intelligence.”
• AI voice cloning may be used only with living individuals and only with their approval and with the approval of the BYU Strategic Communications Committee. If approved, it must be clearly and audibly acknowledged in the podcast, video, or other media.

The guidelines for AI-generated images in the table below are based on “Standards for Using AI-Generated Images in Church Materials.”

* Illustrative images created by AI must respect the intellectual property of others and must not imitate the style of an identifiable artist.

• No AI-generative tools may be used to create, insert, or remove general or specific people, animals, mascots, logos, buildings, or significant objects in a human-made image.
• A human-made image may be edited with AI tools in non-substantial ways (such as for color, resolution, or lighting). Such image editing does not need approval, and an image edited in this way does not need to be labeled as an AI-enhanced image.
• A human-made image edited or enhanced with AI-generative tools in substantial ways (such as background expansions, generative fill, or minor object removal) should be labeled as an “AI-enhanced” photograph in both the metadata caption and the credit line.
  
  • Attribution examples: “Photo by Jaren Wilkey (AI enhanced)” or “Video imagery enhanced by AI”

All use of AI-generated content by BYU communicators must be approved by the BYU Strategic Communications Committee. To seek approval, send an email to aidesign@byu.edu describing

• the communication piece;
• the communication objective;
• the audience; and
• how AI would be used.

The email must include at least a preliminary version of the AI-generated content and enough context that the committee can understand how the AI content will be used.

Please request approval early in the process to avoid urgent requests and last-minute changes. Please allow at least one week for review.