Wiley embraces artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technology.
Our approach to AI is both visionary and vigilant: we believe AI presents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of innovation in research, learning, and academic publishing, but we are also aware of the risks associated with AI and are taking steps to mitigate them.
Below, we lay out the four core principles upon which our AI journey is grounded.
Wiley believes AI solutions must be developed, leveraged, and maintained with human oversight.
We cannot rely solely on AI without continual human oversight and feedback. In the context of research and learning, any AI tool must ultimately rely on human decision making. We need human intelligence to determine if conclusions are valid, to check for bias, and to maintain ethical standards, with feedback loops from users and stakeholders as an essential part of the process. This approach ensures that AI acts as a tool for extending and augmenting human intellect and creativity – not replacing it.
Wiley makes transparency and trustworthiness core elements of our AI use and development.
We are dedicated to protecting intellectual property and identifying piracy and copyright violations. We are actively working together with other organizations in efforts to define standards and tackle AI-created content integrity challenges. Our goal is to align with industry best practices and to contribute to a shared culture of ethical AI use in scholarly publishing. We are also committed to being transparent with our AI use and development, subject to the terms of agreements we have with others.
Wiley is committed to ensuring our AI systems and processes are safe and fair.
We are concerned about individual human rights and privacy and uphold the strictest standards of data privacy and protection. We strive to protect our AI systems against errors, failures, and attacks, working vigilantly to prevent harm to users. We are equally committed to the development and use of AI that is accessible, inclusive, and ethical. We implement rigorous strategies to identify and mitigate biases in our AI models. Our decision-making frameworks ensure AI aligns with our ethical guidelines, promoting fairness and integrity in all AI-driven processes.
Wiley will maintain appropriate governance over our use of AI and its incorporation into our business to manage risks and assure accountability.
We support greater transparency and accountability for AI model developers, including regulatory oversight where appropriate. To effectively address and manage risks, Wiley has established policies, procedures and controls designed to ensure that the incorporation of AI into our business is responsible, ethical and compliant with applicable laws. We will continue to educate colleagues on responsible use of AI.
Wiley is committed to continuous progress and improvement. AI is still a nascent and rapidly evolving technology, and we must learn, adjust, and evolve along with it. We pledge to regularly review and update our approach, procedures, and governance as needed to adapt to new challenges and advancements in the landscape of AI and market best practices.
Our position statement
At Wiley, we champion the value of intellectual property and the creators behind it. As pioneers in knowledge creation and dissemination for over two centuries, we are committed to ensuring that authors' works are respected and properly licensed in the evolving digital landscape. Collaboration between authors, scientific and scholarly societies, and AI developers ensures responsible use of AI to advance research and discovery while preserving the academic freedom that is essential to scholarly progress.
We reaffirm this position. We believe in the transformative potential of AI to advance research and discovery. This progress must be built on a foundation of respect for intellectual property rights including agreed compensation and attribution for content creators. We stand firmly alongside our authors and publishing partners in calling for ethical and legal data sourcing practices within the AI industry and encourage industry-wide adoption of proper licensing practices as some AI developers have.
To be clear:
To demonstrate our commitment to responsible innovation, we have developed licensing frameworks that offer flexible, fair terms tailored to different use cases and development needs.
There have been numerous well-publicized agreements between AI developers and STM and trade publishers, including our own successful licensing agreements with AI developers who share our commitment to ethical content use. These clearly demonstrate that an AI licensing market exists and is functioning effectively.
This licensing market also creates pathways to ground AI in authoritative content. This active collaboration with the AI community includes building expectations and standards into agreements for transparency, citation, attribution, and data provenance, to foster user trust in AI systems.
Through partnerships with authors, publishing partners, researchers, and ethical AI developers, we can create a sustainable ecosystem that values both technological advancement and the uniquely human contributions of authors and researchers.