Use of AI During Blaugust

Blaugust celebrates human creativity, personal expression and the shared experience of making and publishing something of your own. Participants are welcome to use AI tools for assistance, but the substantive creative contribution to a Blaugust post must come from the participant.

Posts that are wholly or substantially generated by AI should not be submitted as Blaugust content or counted towards Blaugust awards. This includes supplying an AI system with a prompt, notes or bullet points and asking it to produce, substantially rewrite or expand them into a finished post. Lightly editing an AI-generated article does not make it human-written.

Acceptable assistance may include:

  • spelling and grammar checking;

  • formatting and organisational suggestions;

  • brainstorming or writing prompts;

  • research assistance, provided information is independently checked;

  • transcription or accessibility assistance;

  • translation of the participant’s own original work; and

  • AI-generated images used to illustrate an otherwise human-created post.

Meaningful use of generative AI should be disclosed briefly within the post. This includes generated passages, substantial rewriting, translations, images, audio or video. Routine spelling and grammar checking does not need to be disclosed.

For primarily visual, audio or video posts, the central creative work must likewise be the participant’s own. An AI-generated image accompanying a human-written article is acceptable; a post whose only substantive creative element is an AI-generated image would not meet the spirit of the event.

Participants remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, attribution and legality of everything they publish.

Blaugust operates on trust. Organisers will not routinely use AI-detection tools or attempt to investigate participants. However, content that clearly conflicts with this guidance may be excluded from Blaugust listings or awards, normally after a private conversation with the participant.

A simple rule of thumb is: AI may assist your creative work, but it should not replace your creative contribution.