AI Policy

Birds of the World (BOW) strives to be the definitive source for the life histories of all birds, building authoritative, referenced content through partnerships and its global team of thousands of academic authors and contributors. The journal is jointly edited by a team of science editors managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its global partners. As such, we demand an exceedingly high level of data quality, and we are keenly interested in making sure that the resource contains only accurate, scientifically referenced information about birds. The generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape is rapidly evolving, and emerging tools and technologies in this domain have potential benefits and pitfalls. We aim to stay abreast of these developments and publish a transparent policy in how we use, and don’t use, these developing tools. Thus, the following policy on the use of AI technology has been developed to assist authors, reviewers, and editors to make good judgements about the ethical use of such technology, as well as for readers to understand how AI is used in BOW.

How BOW and its authors use AI

Language translations: BOW is available in two languages, with more on the development horizon. To accomplish translations at this scale, we use a professional version of DeepL, a machine translation service that uses AI to translate text and documents. DeepL delivers high-quality translations, especially for complex or nuanced language,especially in science and technology. Before releasing a new translation, our scientists, alongside native-speaking volunteers, test and fine-tune the translation outputs by creating a glossary of domain-specific terminology that helps the AI achieve high accuracy. To date, our readers are pleased with the translations and we’ve seen very few inaccuracies. However, we are constantly monitoring this and encourage readers to contact us if problems are encountered.

Our English as a second language (ESL) writers may use AI-assisted copy editing tools that help with grammar, punctuation, or by suggesting alternative phrasing in the academic style. The overarching result of such use would be to enhance readability and style, not to generate new information. Disclosure is required for this use; authors are required to report the use of any AI-assisted tools to our editors during the publication process.

How BOW and its authors will NOT use AI

Generative AI tools trained on the vast array of information available on the internet can synthesize information and provide results for basic questions about birds, but they are currently prone to a high degree of error when asked to provide specific and scientifically defensible information. It also opens the door to plagiarism when the AI model reproduces substantial texts from other sources.

Authorship attribution on a species account carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to AI-generated text. As such, BOW staff and its authors do not use these tools to generate any information about birds for inclusion in its content. The content appearing in BOW has been synthesized by human beings and referenced back to its original sources–typically peer-reviewed scientific publications. Should evidence appear that an author inappropriately used generative AI on a species account, BOW will undertake an editorial assessment of the matter and reserves the right to reject the submission.

Data mining and Using AI/Machine Learning on BOW Content:

BOW is a fundamental resource supporting ornithology and biodiversity research across many disciplines. As modern research methods evolve, BOW’s comprehensive life history data continues to serve emerging analytical approaches. Policies have been developed to guide the practice of use of BOW content.

We ask that anyone wishing to use BOW data products (data, content, media, illustrations) carefully review the Terms of Use in their entirety. Below are just a few highlights from that document:

Human-powered data mining from BOW species accounts is allowed without permission
Machine-powered systematic downloading or data scraping is not allowed under any circumstance without advance permission and approval.
Research use is limited to the biodiversity research domain.
Prohibited uses include:
- All commercial uses, especially for using the data to develop commercial products or services
- Creating derivative databases or products that compete with BOW
- Reconstructing substantial portions of the original BOW database for any use.
- Aggregating this data with other sources to create competing reference works
- Systematic downloading/scraping without explicit approval
- Redistributing the data in its original or modified form
- Creation of public-facing databases
- Creation of comprehensive species accounts
- Long-term data storage on private or public servers.