AI and competition rules: what to check before entering
Understand what the organiser allows before using AI in your process, and keep a clear record of how your entry was made.
AI can be useful for organising information, but permission to use it depends on the competition. Do not assume that a tool is allowed because it is widely available, built into editing software or used only for a small part of the work. Begin with the actual rules.
Find out what the restriction covers
Look beyond the word “AI”. The terms may refer to generated images, automated text, compositing, retouching, originality, third-party assistance or proof of authorship. Read the rules for the specific category as well as the general conditions.
Separate the activities you are considering: summarising a public brief, planning your time, brainstorming, generating draft text, creating images and editing the final submission. An organiser may treat these differently. A rule that permits one activity does not automatically permit the others.
Silence is not a useful answer
If the rules do not cover the tool you want to use, ask a specific question. Explain the proposed use clearly enough for the organiser to give a meaningful answer. Keep the written reply with your entry records. Do this before making a piece of work that depends on the tool.
For example: “Does your rule on AI-generated work also prohibit using an AI tool to suggest edits to an artist statement that I have written myself?”
This is more useful than asking whether “AI is okay”, because it identifies the part of the process in question.
Keep evidence of your own process
Retain source photographs, sketches, drafts, working files and relevant version history. If AI is permitted and you use it, record the tool, the task and what you changed. Follow any requested disclosure format. Do not remove required disclosures because they feel less polished than the rest of your entry.
A process record helps you explain the work. It does not override a prohibition or prove that all rights and permissions have been satisfied. Check those separately, including any assets or source material used with a tool.
Use summaries as reading aids
The Clue brief checker extracts requirements from text you paste and shows supporting quotations. It does not create your entry. Even so, check whether an unusually broad competition rule affects any AI use in preparation. You can always work manually with the entry planner.
Read every quotation in context. A summary may omit a qualification, confuse two categories or miss an amendment elsewhere. Do not infer that a competition is free, safe, open or suitable just because a summary contains no warning.
Choose what you share with a service
Use published competition rules for a brief check, and remove personal or confidential material. Do not upload another person’s unpublished work to a service without permission. Clue’s AI form explains where submitted text goes before you send it; the privacy page gives more detail.
For broader checks before entering an unfamiliar draw, see Online Competition’s guide to spotting a genuine prize draw. It covers a different question from whether a creative entry complies with AI rules.