AI Policy & Practices

Human editing for human stories. Always.

TL;DR

Pursuit Press is not anti-AI, but we are committed to transparency, human authorship, and human editorial judgment.
Your manuscript is always read and edited by a human. We do not use generative AI to edit client manuscripts or generate editorial feedback.
We welcome human-authored work that uses AI for brainstorming, research, planning, or revision, provided the author remains responsible for the creative work. We also provide human editing of AI-generated business and informational content.
Currently, we do not edit AI-generated creative work.
We may use AI for appropriate internal business and administrative tasks, but public-facing work is human-reviewed. For example, this policy was outlined with AI assistance, then reviewed, revised, fact-checked, expanded, and approved by Pursuit Press.
In short: AI may support human work, but it does not replace human authorship or professional judgment.

Our Approach to AI

At Pursuit Press, we believe AI tools can have legitimate and useful applications. Still, we recognize their limitations and the ethical, creative, privacy, and intellectual-property concerns surrounding generative AI.

Our approach is neither anti-AI nor AI-first. We believe technology should support human creativity and professional expertise—not replace them.

For that reason, Pursuit Press maintains clear boundaries regarding how generative AI is used in our work and what types of AI-assisted or AI-generated material we accept from clients.

Our guiding principle is simple:

AI can assist human work, but It should not be used to impersonate human ability, especially with creative work that demands—and flourishes on—unique human expression. In other words, human work deserves the depth and nuance of human review.

Human Editing and Client Privacy

Unpublished manuscripts are valuable intellectual property.

When you hire Pursuit Press to edit your manuscript, your work is read, evaluated, and edited by a human editor.

We do not use generative AI to perform developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, or proofreading on client manuscripts.

This means we do not upload your manuscript to generative AI systems to generate, rewrite, analyze, or edit your work.

We will not knowingly use a client’s manuscript to train a generative AI model.

A human editor makes editorial decisions, comments, queries, corrections, and recommendations.

Professional Editing Technology

A commitment to human editing does not mean avoiding technology.

Professional editors have long used software to improve accuracy, consistency, and efficiency. Pursuit Press often uses traditional editing, proofreading, formatting, spell-checking, search, comparison, and quality-control tools as part of the editorial process.

These tools may help identify potential issues, but they do not replace editorial judgment. Editors review automated suggestions from programs such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or PerfectIt, rather than accepting them indiscriminately.

The distinction is important: technology may support the editor, but it does not become the editor.

AI-Generated Images and Book Designs

Pursuit Press will not represent AI-generated artwork as the work of a human illustrator or designer. We do not knowingly use AI-generated images in our designs. We work exclusively with reputable image and graphic providers that clearly distinguish human-created content from AI-generated content, and we hold our partner illustrators and designers to the same standard. This allows us to ensure, to the best of our knowledge, that all our design work is AI-free.

When clients provide third-party artwork or stock imagery, they are responsible for disclosing relevant information—including if content is AI-generated—and ensuring they have the rights necessary to use the material.

Our Right to Decline a Project

Because AI technology and industry standards continue to develop, this policy cannot anticipate every possible use.

Pursuit Press reserves the right to decline projects when the requested service would conflict with our standards regarding authorship, transparency, privacy, professional integrity, or ethical use of artificial intelligence.

We may also decline requests intended primarily to:

conceal substantial AI authorship;
circumvent AI-use policies;
evade required disclosure;
defeat AI-detection systems;
misrepresent the origin of creative work;
facilitate plagiarism or academic dishonesty; or
mislead a publisher, reader, employer, educational institution, contest, or other third party about authorship.

When a project involves AI but does not fall neatly into one of the categories described here, we are happy to discuss the circumstances individually.

An Author’s Approach to AI

We understand that writers use AI in many different ways.

The use of an AI tool does not automatically disqualify a manuscript from our editorial services. Instead, we consider how the author used AI and who is ultimately responsible for the work's authorship.

AI-Assisted Planning and Revision

Pursuit Press generally accepts human-authored manuscripts in which AI tools have been used as part of the author’s broader writing or revision process.

Examples may include using AI to:

brainstorm possibilities;
organize ideas;
explore research questions;
develop planning materials;
identify potential areas for revision;
discuss writing craft;
refine outlines;
troubleshoot a plot or structural problem;
generate questions for the author to consider; or
assist with other administrative or preparatory tasks.

The central consideration is whether the author—not the AI system—is fundamentally responsible for the creative work and authorship of the manuscript.

AI-Generated Creative Writing

To protect the integrity of human creativity, Pursuit Press does not provide services intended to disguise substantially AI-generated creative writing as human-authored work.

The question is, how will we know it was generated with AI? First, we expect transparency from our clients. Second, as editors, we have read an enormous number of words configured in all sorts of ways—by humans. AI still falls short in relatively obvious ways (excessive use of similes and metaphors, anyone!?), and we will likely be able to tell.

That said, we will always bring our concerns to the author first, before denying services. Many instances occur where an author’s work is flagged for generative AI when it was absolutely not used. We know—it has happened to us. So, we are not interested in denying work that is simply well written or uses em dashes.

Conversely, we clearly guarantee the integrity of our work up front. If trust breaks down in either direction—from client or editor—that will end our professional relationship. We take trust very seriously and require it from all parties during the writing, editing, or publishing process.

AI-Generated Commercial Content

AI-generated commercial content presents a different situation from creative authorship.

Businesses and organizations increasingly use generative AI to create rough drafts of routine content. Pursuit Press may provide professional human editing and refinement of this material. This is a service we have a great deal of experience with and are comfortable providing.

Eligible content may include:

website copy;
blog posts;
informational articles;
newsletters;
marketing copy;
product and service descriptions;
internal business materials;
informational resources;
summaries;
promotional materials; and
other noncreative commercial content.

These services may include improving clarity, readability, organization, tone, consistency, grammar, style, and naturalness.

Where appropriate, we may also identify questionable factual claims, repetitive language, generic phrasing, logical inconsistencies, or other common problems in AI-generated material.

AI-Generated Academic and Educational Work

Clients submitting academic or educational material are responsible for complying with the AI policies, honor codes, disclosure requirements, and authorship standards of their school, university, instructor, publisher, journal, or other governing institution.

We will not edit AI-generated academic work to make it appear human-authored when the underlying use of AI violates applicable rules or requirements. As with creative writing, human insight, critical thinking, and independent judgment are essential to a healthy educational system and we have no desire to weaken those established strongholds. Academic work must be your own.

Generative AI systems can help locate potential sources and assist with research. That said, AI is still frequently inaccurate, so all citations, quotations, references, URLs, titles, authors, studies, and other source information must be verified.

Publishing, Submissions, & Contests

AI policies vary considerably among publishers, literary magazines, journals, contests, agents, self-publishing platforms, professional organizations, and other institutions. These policies also continue to change.

Authors are responsible for understanding and complying with the requirements governing their work, including any requirements or restrictions related to AI-generated content.

Our Commitment to Human Authors

AI will continue to change.

Our commitment to author and editor integrity will not.

Pursuit Press believes that thoughtful editing requires more than correcting sentences. It requires understanding context, intention, voice, audience, structure, nuance, and the relationship between an author and their work.

We welcome technology that genuinely helps people create, communicate, and work more effectively. There is enduring value in knowing that another person has carefully read your words, thought about what you are trying to accomplish, and responded with professional judgment.

Your manuscript deserves human attention.

That’s what you’ll find here. Human editing for human stories. Always.