At its AGM on 11/06/2026, the Leicester Writers’ Club adopted the following AI Policy:
Leicester Writers’ Club is aware of the use of developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in creative areas, the increasing interest in identifying human-authored works and that many GenAI programs were developed using copyrighted works without permission of or compensating authors.
One of the key activities of the club is supporting members into publication. To that end, it would be remiss of the club not to incorporate policies being adopted by publishers, literary agents, author societies and writers’ guilds, etc. The club will also monitor submission guidelines which it expects members to comply with. Currently many submission guidelines exclude writing created with the use of GenAI.
There are risks in using AI, such as bias and factual inaccuracy, and potential loss of the original creator’s intellectual property or copyright.
For the purposes of this policy, GenAI means generative artificial intelligence tools, applications, programs and systems that use machine learning to determine patterns from large language models, chatbots or similar to interpret prompts to produce work.
Members and those submitting work for consideration for membership therefore must not:
- Submit GenAI-generated work to the club
- Bring GenAI-generated work to any of the club’s activities such as manuscript evenings, club competitions or masterclasses
- Feed another members’ or potential members’ work or works used in, e.g. a masterclass, into an AI system or externally accessible database of any kind, regardless of intention.
Assistive AI tools may be used:
- In editing already created work, e.g. for spelling or grammar checking or word processing tools
- In creating captions to accompany a video or filmed piece of work
- In creating index(es) or abstracts for original work
- Text to speech or speech to text programs for the purpose of editing while retaining the integrity of the original work
- In research and fact checking in order for a writer to create a new piece of work.
The club is also aware that it is reliant on the honesty of members and potential members to implement this policy and if any member suspects another of using GenAI in breach of the club’s policy, that suspicion should be raised to the committee who will consider what action, if any, to take.
The club’s committee will continue to monitor developments in AI and this policy will be reviewed on a regular basis.
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