Emerald Archives believes that visitors have a right to know how artificial intelligence is used in the creation and operation of this website.
Artificial intelligence is used extensively throughout Emerald Archives as a research, writing, production, restoration, organisational and technical tool. It enables a project of this scale to process, organise and present a very large collection of historical material that would otherwise be extremely difficult for an individual researcher and publisher to produce.
AI may be used to assist with researching historical subjects, identifying relevant information, organising sources, developing article structures, drafting and editing text, summarising material, generating abstracts, preparing metadata, and formatting content for publication. Some articles may therefore contain substantial AI-assisted or AI-generated text.
Artificial intelligence may also be used in the production of images, illustrations, reconstructions and other visual material. Historical photographs and images may be digitally restored, enhanced, colourised, enlarged or repaired using AI-assisted technology. Where an image is an artistic reconstruction or has been generated rather than being an original historical photograph, it should not be regarded as primary historical evidence.
AI is also used in other areas of the Emerald Archives project, including the preparation of podcast and audiovisual material, transcription, narration and script development, website programming, data processing, archive organisation, search functions, automation and routine publishing tasks.
The use of artificial intelligence does not mean that AI is treated as a historical authority. AI systems can make mistakes, misunderstand sources, omit context and occasionally produce incorrect information. Historical claims should therefore ultimately be judged by the evidence and sources supporting them rather than by the technology used to help prepare the material.
Where sources are available, Emerald Archives seeks to identify and present them so that readers can investigate the evidence independently. AI-generated material is not intended to replace original documents, archaeological evidence, contemporary accounts, scholarly research or other primary and secondary sources.
The overall direction, editorial policy, subject selection, structure and development of Emerald Archives remain under human control. Artificial intelligence is a tool used to help create and maintain the archive, not the owner, authorial authority or final arbiter of its historical content.
Emerald Archives does not conceal its use of artificial intelligence. AI has made it possible to undertake a historical publishing project on a scale that would previously have required a substantial research, editorial and technical team. Its use is therefore an integral part of the project and is acknowledged openly.
This statement will be updated when necessary as the technologies used by Emerald Archives develop.
Gerard J. Hannan
Creator and Curator
Emerald Archives