Part 10 of 10
How to write the using AI section of brand guidelines
Which AI tools people can use, what AI can and must not make, what goes into a prompt, what gets a label, and who checks the work, with published examples.
This is the newest part of most guides, and often the shortest. It says how staff, agencies, and AI tools can use generative AI with the brand. The published versions below agree on a few points. Use approved tools. Keep confidential data out of prompts. Never let AI draw the logo or make fake people who look real. A person checks the work before it goes out. Fewer versions say where the AI tools get the real brand files and the current rules.
What the using AI section needs
- Which tools and accounts people can use for brand work.
- What AI can make (drafts, backgrounds, variations) and what it must not make (the logo, people that look real).
- What never goes into a prompt: personal data, confidential material, and products that are not released.
- Where AI tools get the brand: the real logo files, the approved images, and the current guide.
- Which AI-made work gets a label, and the words of the label.
- Who checks AI-made work before it goes out, and against what.
How published guides write it
Experian
GenAI is a tool to support the creation of our work, it does not replace our judgment. If you create or commission GenAI content, you are responsible for ensuring it is accurate, appropriate, and on brand before it is used.
Has: where it applies. Puts responsibility on the person who made or commissioned the content, not on the tool.
Experian
Prompt for copyrighted styles, characters, or distinctive brand aesthetics (for example, “in the style of Pixar”)
Has: right and wrong. Listed under 'Do not', with a real example of a prompt that breaks the rule.
Arizona State University
AI may not be used to create, recreate or alter any ASU identity marks, spirit graphics or trademarked materials.
Has: where it applies. Covers every kind of mark, not only the main logo, and rules out editing as well as creating.
Arizona State University
AI cannot be used to generate photorealistic images or videos of students, faculty or staff.
Has: where it applies. Names the people covered and the kind of output that is banned.
Customer.io
Always source logo and brand mark files from the Brand Guidelines microsite, as AI recreations can introduce subtle inconsistencies that will render the logo off-brand.
Has: reason, real file. Sends people to the real logo files and says why AI copies of the logo fail.
ZEISS
Assets created with artificial intelligence must be labeled either in the image description and footnote or directly on the asset itself.
Has: exact value. Makes labels required and names the two places a label can go.
CARE
While generative AI can support creative development, it can also erode trust if used in ways that misrepresent reality.
Has: reason. Gives the reason before the rules, so the yes and no lists read as one idea.
Utah State University
Do not use AI tools to create, recreate, upscale or alter any university logos, spirit marks, or trademarked works.
Has: where it applies. Includes upscaling, so even enlarging a logo with AI is not allowed.
Wording to copy
Copy this text into your guide. The example is for Larch Coffee, a made-up coffee roaster. Replace the highlighted parts with the facts for your brand.
Using AI
Tools: use [Claude and ChatGPT], with [company] accounts.
Never put [customer data or products that are not released] into a
prompt.
AI can help with: [first drafts, backgrounds, resizing, variations].
AI must not: draw or change our logo, make people who look like real
customers or staff, or copy a named artist or another brand.
Brand files: give AI tools the real logo files, the approved images,
and this guide from [example.com/brand]. Do not let them work from
screenshots.
Labels: put the label "[Made with AI]" on images that look like real
photographs.
Before work goes out: [the brand team] checks AI-made work against
this guide.
Common gaps
- There is a list of bans but no approved route. So people use AI tools anyway, without telling anyone.
- The guide does not say where AI tools get the brand. So the tools work from memory or screenshots.