We used to be able to say, “Seeing is believing.”

Now we’re learning to be more discerning about images and videos we see posted online. We’re counting people’s fingers in photos, looking for clues tipping us off that something isn’t real. All because of this newfangled thing called Artificial Intelligence. We encounter weird, too-shiny advertisements crammed to the hilt with images.

Some of the telltale signs: warped backgrounds, gibberish, figures with extra limbs, missing shadows and other nonsense.

It reminds me of when I was a kid, reading the “Highlights” magazine in the dentist’s waiting room, trying to find the discrepancies between two illustrations. Except, that was fun. It’s not, anymore.

The days of Goofus and Gallant are long gone.

To say there are ethical concerns with the prevalence of AI is an understatement. These concerns are layered. Some people cite water consumption as a problem, since AI needs data centers and data centers require water to cool their massive servers. Here in the West, especially during one of the worst droughts on record, that’s a sore point.

In the journalism business, the ethics of AI are centered on determining truth and maintaining trust with our readers. AI is notorious for inaccuracy, the enemy of our work. The efficiency of AI and any possible savings that come with it are not worth the risk of imploding our credibility.

For a long time, we’ve had tools allowing us to manipulate images, like Photoshop. This created ethical concerns for journalists, who rely on trust built with our readers. Our general rule has been – and continues to be – we wouldn’t do anything to a photo that we couldn’t do in a darkroom (and yes, I’m old enough to have used one). That means we’re making minor changes to photos – adjusting exposure to lighten or darken an image, sharpening it, cropping it.

We’re not cutting people out of photos or making them look thinner or have more hair or smaller noses. Most of my photos look pretty much how I shot them with my camera, with minimal changes.

One time I shot a photo of an extremely angry convicted felon who was being taken to prison, escorted down the courthouse steps. He decided to use both hands to flip me the bird as I took the photo.

A woman standing near me asked, “Are you going to put that in the paper? I guess you could just Photoshop it out.”

Uh, no. We don’t do that. I explained that was against our code of ethics.

“What about kids?” she asked.

Our job is to present the truth and allow readers to make their own decisions. While I’d argue we have a “family friendly” publication, sometimes there are ugly things in the paper. Accidents. Death. People making rude gestures and other poor choices. My general rule is, if you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen.

Now, that doesn’t mean I take photos that make people look terrible on purpose or to embarrass them, either. I think most folks who have had me take their photos would tell you I try to be sensitive but accurate.

Here at the Plaindealer, we have a policy against altering images or using AI to produce our journalism. Now, what does that mean? It means we do not use ChatGPT or Grok or any of those other programs to write articles or manipulate photos.

While you may see some larger newspapers, particularly those owned by hedge funds, requiring reporters to use the technology and calling it “AI-assisted reporting,” we have decided to go a different direction.

We promise to use human-powered judgment and our skills to do the best we can for you every week, and to take responsibility for the mistakes we make and correct them. We don’t manipulate photos. The long dashes you see in our writing – like these, called em dashes – we know how to use, and have been using forever.

The highest compliment any reader can give us is their trust, and we want you to know we value that more than any possible savings we could get from using an AI chatbot spitting out gobbledygook.

Thank you for reading your human-powered local newspaper.

Erin McIntyre is the co-publisher of the Ouray County Plaindealer. Email her at erin@ouraynews.com