Buying Local uses artificial intelligence in the production of nearly every article we publish. We think you should know exactly how.

Articles from Our Interviews

Most of what we publish begins as a recorded conversation with a local business owner, organizer, or resident. We transcribe that recording and use AI to draft an article from the transcript. A member of our editorial team produces the article and reviews the draft. We then send it to the person we interviewed to check for accuracy, make their suggested corrections, and publish.

The facts, quotes, and perspectives in these articles come from a real recorded conversation with a real person — and that person reads the article before you do.

We ask interview subjects to check the facts only. They do not have editorial control over the article. We consider corrections and suggestions they offer, but we decide what is published.

Articles from Contributing Writers

When a contributor submits work, we use AI to proof it for grammar, spelling, and style. We do not use AI to rewrite, restructure, or add to a contributor’s reporting.

Press Releases and Submitted Announcements

Organizations, businesses, and municipalities send us announcements they would like published. We label these as submitted material so you know they did not originate with our newsroom. We may use AI to edit them for length and house style. We ask submitting organizations to tell us whether AI was used to write the release.

When our team rewrites or expands a submission into an original article, we label it a staff report and name the organization that supplied the underlying information. We do not label material a staff report unless our team wrote it.

What We Don’t Do

We never present AI output as fact. When AI is used to help research or verify something, the underlying source is cited in the article and a person confirms it. We do not use AI to generate quotes or invent sources. AI is never a source itself and never carries a byline in this publication.

Accountability

Buying Local is published by Spa City Digital LLC dba Five Towers Media, which is responsible for everything published here. If you believe something we have published is inaccurate, contact us at michael@fivetowers.us and we will correct it.

Corrections are made to the online version of an article. If an error appeared in print, the online version is the corrected record.

Article Labels

Every article carries one of these lines beneath its byline. If you see an article without one, tell us.

We began labeling articles in August 2026. The process described above has been our practice since before that date.

Interview by [Interviewer]. Produced by [Producer]. Written from the recorded interview transcript with AI, editor-reviewed, and verified for accuracy by the interview subject prior to publication.

By [Name], contributing writer. Proofed with AI assistance.

Submitted by [Organization]. Edited by Buying Local with AI assistance.

Buying Local staff report, from information submitted by [Organization].

When the interviewer and producer are the same person, the line reads: Interview and article by [Name].