Artificial intelligence is increasingly part of the environment in which knowledge is created, interpreted, organized, and encountered.
The Living Archive may use AI as an instrument within that environment.
It does not, however, regard artificial intelligence as an institutional authority.
AI may assist understanding. It does not replace human judgment, institutional responsibility, or reader sovereignty.
AI as Instrument
The Living Archive may use artificial intelligence for purposes such as:
- research assistance;
- organization and classification;
- discovery;
- navigation;
- analysis;
- synthesis;
- accessibility;
- interactive interpretation.
The appropriate role of AI depends on the function being performed.
Human and Institutional Responsibility
AI output does not become authoritative merely because it was generated by a sophisticated system.
The Living Archive remains responsible for the institutional uses it makes of AI and seeks to exercise appropriate human judgment over consequential outputs.
Where an AI-assisted output could materially affect a person, institutional decision, or public representation, appropriate human review should remain part of the process.
Where a system is used to assist interpretation, the institution seeks to understand its limitations rather than treating its output as inherently correct.
Transparency
Where AI materially participates in an experience or interpretation presented to a reader, the Living Archive seeks to represent that involvement honestly.
Readers should not be deliberately led to believe that an automated interpretation was wholly produced by a human when that distinction is material to understanding the experience.
Where an external AI system materially contributes to an experience, the institution seeks to understand the system’s role and the relevant conditions under which the contribution is produced.
Reader Sovereignty
AI-assisted navigation should expand a reader’s ability to orient themselves rather than narrow it.
The Living Archive therefore seeks to avoid using AI to manipulate readers into predetermined conclusions, purchases, beliefs, or behaviors.
Personal Information
Personal information should not be supplied to an AI system simply because doing so is technically convenient.
Where AI processes information associated with an individual, the institution seeks to establish:
- why the information is needed;
- what information is transmitted;
- who processes it;
- where it may be processed;
- how it is retained;
- and what safeguards apply.
Information supplied to an AI system for one defined purpose should not automatically be used for another purpose merely because the system makes that use possible.
Diagnostic and Interpretive Systems
Where AI contributes to a diagnostic, reflective, or navigational experience, the system’s interpretation should not be confused with an objective determination of the person.
An AI-assisted interpretation is an interpretive output, not an absolute definition of an individual.
It should therefore be understood as a contribution to reflection or navigation, rather than as a clinical, legal, employment, or other authoritative determination unless a separately appropriate framework expressly establishes such a role.
This distinction is especially important where an experience concerns identity, development, capability, behavior, or personal circumstances.
Accuracy and Revision
AI systems can produce inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or misleading outputs.
The Living Archive therefore treats the possibility of error as a design consideration rather than an exceptional event.
Where material errors become known, the institution seeks to correct or clarify them appropriately.
No Transfer of Authority
The deepest boundary is institutional:
The Living Archive may use artificial intelligence without granting artificial intelligence authority over the institution.
Technology remains an instrument within the architecture.
Human responsibility remains above the instrument.
Living Archive · Global Integrity & Standards
Part of the institutional standards of the Living Archive.
Living Archive · Life.Understood.