Concern 746 · Working draft · editorial review in progress
Source-protection risks
Source-protection risk occurs when journalists' use of AI exposes confidential identities, documents or clues that could reveal someone who trusted them.
Understanding the concern
An interview transcript may contain names, locations or distinctive details even after obvious identifiers are removed. Uploading it to a service can create copies or access outside the newsroom's control. A source may have agreed to speak with a reporter without agreeing to this additional processing.
Journalist-safety guidance emphasizes understanding the tools used to handle sensitive material. The AI question is an extension of that duty: who receives the data, how it is retained and what the service is permitted to do with it. Think of handing notes to another organization. Convenience does not remove the need to assess whether the arrangement protects the source.
An example
A reporter uploads confidential interview notes to a public tool without checking its retention and access terms.
Illustrative unless identified as a documented case.
Words in plain English
- AI
- Software that learns patterns from examples or uses rules to perform tasks such as recognizing images or generating text. It can make mistakes and does not understand every situation as a person would.
Evidence and its limits
CPJ provides general source-protection guidance. The AI-upload scenario is illustrative, not a claim that every service trains on or exposes all submitted data.
Committee to Protect Journalists 2021 · Journalist safety guidance
Digital and Physical Safety: Protecting Confidential Sources ↗ (opens in a new tab)Protecting identity, assessing digital tools and handling sensitive information. AI workflow examples are applications of these principles.
Broader frameworks and background
These resources provide context. They do not establish every claim in this concern.
A question to discuss
What information could identify the source, and is this tool appropriate for handling it under the newsroom's commitments?
Keep track of different views, what needs checking, and any next step in your own discussion notes.
Open discussion notes →Principles for the conversation
Before you finish · reflect together
Virtues and principles to consider
Virtues are qualities we practice in how we treat people and make choices. They are not scores for judging someone. Use these ideas to explore what a thoughtful response could look like.
Learning together
Learning together means treating experience as something a group can examine and improve. It values honest feedback over appearing successful.
Agree on a question, try something manageable, and compare what different people observed. Share failures as well as gains. Decide together what the evidence supports and what remains uncertain.
Ask together: What have we learned together that should guide the next step?
Humility
Humility means recognizing the limits of our knowledge and being willing to learn from others. Expertise can be valuable without answering every question.
State where evidence is weak, invite criticism, and listen to people with different experience. Leave room to revise a decision when new information appears.
Ask together: What might we be missing, and who could help us see it?
Truthfulness
Truthfulness means making claims that match the evidence and being clear about what we do not know. It includes correcting mistakes rather than protecting a polished story.
Check sources, label guesses, and distinguish a trial result from a proven benefit. If AI helped produce a claim, someone still needs to take responsibility for checking it.
Ask together: What can we honestly say, and what still needs checking?
Editorial ratings
These are editorial judgments from the register, not measured probabilities or predictions about your situation.
About the register and scoring →More ways to explore
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