New Community Guideline: Use of AI

SLC_96 · 2026-03-02T18:19:14+00:00

We have a new community guideline regarding the use of AI. Any use of AI generated content or sources must be clearly disclosed describing how the content/source was generated or obtained. The goal of this community guideline is make the origin of AI generated or sourced information clear to other users. Please make sure all AI generated content and sources are clearly labeled. Thank your your attention and participation at BBF.

vaxvms

Somewhat-Reticent Providing both would be logical. Also noting if more than 1 AI provided the same information.

vaxvms

SLC_96 Please make sure all AI generated content and sources are clearly labeled.

It might also be nice to show just what was asked for and how it was provided to the artificial brain. Questions, like numbers, can be tweaked to get the desired results.

egeezer

I occasionally use Duck AI to find information, but look to the sources for the actual information. This method is fairly useful when looking up technical specifications My caveat is that in my experience the sources returned often don’t provide the information I was looking for, so be sure to check the AI’s returned sources for erroneous citations and sources.

Q; BTW, which citation style should we use, Chicago, APA, IEEE, MLA or other? Or does it depend on the type of information being cited? 😉

Slc. (2026, March 2). New community guideline: use of AI [Online forum post]. Broadband Bulletin Forum. https://broadbandbulletin.com/d/8091-new-community-guideline-use-of-ai

SLC_96

No, you don’t need to describe how AI got the information as that is not always known. Remember, the goal of the community guideline is to make the origin of AI generated or sourced information clear to other users. If you have information to provide that would further this end, please provide it in the manner most fitting for the situation.

egeezer Q; BTW, which citation style should we use, Chicago, APA, IEEE, MLA or other? Or does it depend on the type of information being cited?

Whichever you are most comfortable with and makes the most sense for your post. 😉

Somewhat-Reticent

SLC_96 make the origin of AI generated or sourced information clear

Will “I got it from Google AI” suffice? Or do we need to show GOOG’s source(s)?

DWDM

I did not use AI for this post…..

DANGER WIL ROBINSON…DANGER….🤖

Dustyn

DWDM “Danger! Danger! My hooks are flailing wildly!” 🤖

SLC_96

Somewhat-Reticent Please describe how you got google to generate the material you referenced or copied.

GeekGirl1

Administrative suggestion - Put the initial phrase in bold like the previous guidelines. For example:

Any use of AI generated content or sources must be clearly disclosed describing how the content/source was generated or obtained.

There may be some ambiguity related to @Somewhat-Reticent’s question. In addition to the query used (what the AI is answering), you also have the AI content results (how it was obtained). For the latter, it would be productive if the AI could cite its sources. For example, “How does X work? Cite the sources used to generate the answers”.

vaxvms

GeekGirl1 It would help if you could provide an example post - This_is_What_Needs_To_Be_Displayed as an example of what users should be doing.

A link to a post that’s been done correctly?

InternetJeff

vaxvms

Here’s an example of my recommendation for posting AI:

AI input query: “What percentage of cats are orange? Cite your references.”
AI model: GPT-4o mini
AI output [Limited to two most pertinent sentences]:

Approximately 20% of domestic cats are orange. This statistic primarily highlights the prevalence of orange tabby cats, which are a popular coat color among felines.

AI references provided:
https://www.rapsbc.com/2023/07/no-not-all-orange-cats-are-male-but-most-are/
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/yellow-cats.htm

This provides full traceability and disambiguity for any AI posted in the forums.

p.s. It would probably be easier for people to just use AI to find references, and then just quote the references. AI output rarely adds any usefulness, other than just regurgitating the source material.

GeekGirl1

vaxvms A link to a post that’s been done correctly?

InternetJeff’s post is done correctly.

Donoreo

InternetJeff Honestly, that looks like a huge PITA to do all of that.

vaxvms

InternetJeff If one truly needs to know the AI references, they’ve been given the AI input query and the AI model. How hard is it to query the AI oneself?

Somewhat-Reticent

Donoreo InternetJeff Honestly, that looks like a huge PITA

Motivation required?

Somewhat-Reticent

vaxvms And will repeated identical queries get identical results?

Donoreo

Note: to avoid Google producing AI results, add -AI to the end of your search.

InternetJeff

Donoreo , add -AI to the end of your search.

That, or something equivalent, is part of the search string query settings in my browser. No slop, no crud.

GeekGirl1

One of the Google search options is “Web”.

Choose “Web” and AI is gone.

broknsymetry

GeekGirl1 Choose “Web” and AI is gone.

So also images and videos as well as other useful sections.