Legal
AI Use Policy
Our commitment to transparent, ethical, and human-led use of artificial intelligence tools in our work.
Helen's Way believes that honesty about how we work builds trust. This policy explains where and how we use AI tools — and, just as importantly, where we don't. Every piece of content on this site reflects the values, knowledge, and shared lived experience of our community. AI tools support our work; they do not replace our judgement or our voice.
1. Why we have this policy
AI tools are increasingly used in content creation, research, and communications. We think it's important to be upfront about when and how we use them — particularly given that our work touches on the real experiences of neurodivergent learners and their families. You deserve to know what's been written by a person and what has involved AI assistance.
This policy reflects our commitment to transparency, accuracy, and the primacy of shared lived experience in everything we publish.
2. How we use AI tools
Helen's Way may use AI tools to assist with the following:
- Research assistance: Helping locate, summarise, or cross-reference publicly available research and data — always with human verification before publication.
- Drafting and editing: Producing initial drafts of website copy, policy documents, and communications that are then reviewed, revised, and approved by a person.
- Accessibility improvements: Checking content for plain-language readability, UDL (Universal Design for Learning) compliance, and structural clarity.
- Organisational tasks: File organisation, document formatting, and administrative work.
In all cases, AI-assisted content is reviewed by a member of the Helen's Way team before publication. We do not publish AI-generated content without human review and approval.
3. How we don't use AI
To be equally clear about our limits:
- We do not use AI to generate shared lived experience content. Stories, testimonials, and first-person accounts on this website come only from real people who have consented to share them.
- We do not use AI to fabricate statistics or research. Every statistic published on this website is sourced from a verified, cited primary or secondary source. AI may assist in locating sources, but cannot substitute for them.
- We do not use AI to make advocacy or strategic decisions. Our reform agenda, positions, and priorities are determined by the community and its leadership — not by algorithmic output.
- We do not use AI systems trained on your personal data without consent. We do not feed identifiable information submitted through our forms into AI tools.
4. Our guiding principles
Every output of an AI tool that appears on this website has been read, assessed, and approved by a person before publication. AI is a tool in service of human judgement — not a replacement for it.
We will not pretend content is written from shared lived experience when it has been AI-assisted. Where AI has played a significant role in producing a piece of content, we will say so.
AI tools can produce plausible-sounding content that is incorrect. We treat AI output as a starting point, not a source of truth. All factual claims are verified against primary sources before publication.
We do not share personal information submitted by our community with AI services. Queries to AI tools are anonymised and do not include identifiable data from our users.
The landscape of AI tools and best practices is changing rapidly. We commit to reviewing this policy regularly and updating it as our practices evolve.
5. AI and your data
Personal information you submit through Helen's Way forms — including tracker entries, contact messages, and subscription details — is not fed into AI systems. This information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Where AI tools are used in processing or analysing data, they operate only on de-identified, aggregated information that cannot be traced back to any individual.
6. Accuracy and review
Helen's Way publishes a supporting citations document for statistical claims made on this website. This reflects our commitment to evidence-based advocacy — AI tools may assist in the research process, but every claim must be traceable to a verifiable source.
If you believe any content on this website is inaccurate, misleading, or has been incorrectly attributed, please let us know by emailing us and we will investigate promptly.
7. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy as our use of AI tools changes. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Significant changes will be noted in our community communications.
8. Questions
If you have questions about how Helen's Way uses AI tools, or concerns about specific content, please reach out by emailing hello@helensway.au.