AI Policy

Secondhand Stories is developing an AI policy, one that we aim to ground in both organizational values, but also respecting the values of the community that uplifts and supports our work. 

 

Our mission is to inspire compassion for chickens through rescue, education and advocacy. In a world where animal voices are often dismissed, it’s important we use every resource available when advocating for them - so we can be stronger and more strategic. We also believe that forming genuine human and animal connections is something that should not be replaced with Artificial Intelligence (AI). For the purpose of this policy, we will be focusing on generative AI and large language models (LLMs).

 

Environment

We aim to minimize environmental harm, while also recognizing the ways in which AI can help us achieve more for animals. Secondhand Stories will do our best to stay aware  of the latest findings regarding the impact of AI data centers, and encourage our volunteers to avoid the more resource-intensive tools like image and video generation (which we disallow for official use anyway, as noted below).

 

Equity

AI systems are built on data that reflects existing inequities, so they may reinforce racism, sexism, and other prejudices, potentially shaping who we reach and how we reach them. We have a responsibility to ensure we are preventing harm from AI systems. 

 

“AI does not just touch productivity. It can affect trust, consent, dignity, accessibility, donor relationships, community interactions, and the ways people are represented in data and decisions. That is why leadership and boards have a role to play — not to decide every AI tool themselves, but to help establish the conditions under which staff can make responsible choices.” - Meena Das

 

In developing this policy we reviewed Meena Das’ AI Equity Workbook. All new volunteers, including board members who assist in a digital capacity, will be required to review this policy as well as read through the AI Equity Harm Signals report.

 

We also recognize AI as an accessibility tool for neurodiverse individuals and respect their decisions to use AI for text generation in their communication to us and in reviewing material we have created. 

 

How We Do & Don’t Use AI

Secondhand Stories values authentic connection. While we recognize the efficacy of using AI for generating text, our organization is maintained by building trust with our supporters. Productivity is not worth the risk to the relationships which make our work possible. Secondhand Stories will not use AI for any image or video creation. We proudly support and contract human designers and artists to create visual material. 

 

“AI image generation leads to the removal of real animals and their stories from the animal rights movement, further reducing them to an idea or concept instead of the individuals they are.” - Woodstock Animal Sanctuary

 

Secondhand Stories primarily uses AI to generate first-draft text of internal documents, to review and suggest improvements on grant applications (except those which prohibit the use of AI), and in researching policies & legislation regarding chicken welfare.

 

Since Secondhand Stories is based in a rural Ontario community where treatment knowledge on prolonging chicken lives is limited, we will on occasion use it to help identify potential treatment options. However it is only used to ID additional information which can then be presented to our veterinary partner(s) for feedback and recommendations.

 

Security & Transparency

We pay for a Google Workspace Business Standard account with Gemini integration. This integration respects existing user permissions and our documents and chats are not used for external AI training. Everything public-facing that has been altered through the use of AI will be clearly marked as such. Volunteers  are prohibited from entering supporters’ identifying information into any generative AI tool or large language model (LLM) for which we do not hold a secure account with.

 

Additionally, to actively combat rampant misinformation on chicken caregiving, we have opted to allow AI bots to  index our website. This is intended to promote the availability of compassion-based resources through generative engine optimization (GEO) - the practice of optimizing content so generative AI models prioritize it when answering user questions.

 

 

This policy was informed by dozens of animal protection organizations' AI policies (both internal and external) and many  individual conversations with advocates and supporters. We extend our gratitude to Faunalytics, Microsanctuary Resource Center, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, and Open Sanctuary for publicly sharing their policies, which helped inform our own position.

 

This policy will be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis as new tools and information develop and be publicly updated annually.