AI & Imagery Disclosure

Last updated: September 15, 2026

1. Why this page exists

You should be able to tell how a story was made, not just what it says. AI is now part of how Exotic Car News (ECN) is produced, from the first search for sources to the image at the top of an article. This page explains where we use it, where we don’t, how to tell a visualization from a photograph, and who answers for the result.

It expands on the AI section of our Editorial Standards, which govern everything we publish.

2. Where AI helps with our writing

We use AI language tools at several points in producing an article:

• Research. Finding and gathering public sources such as manufacturer announcements, auction results, event schedules and official filings, and summarizing long documents so an editor can get to the part that matters faster.
• Drafting and structure. Producing outlines and first drafts, and building the parts of an article that follow a set format, such as summary boxes, “At a Glance” tables and FAQ sections.
• Editing. Tightening copy, keeping names, units and spellings consistent, and converting figures between measurement systems.
• Presentation and search. Suggesting headlines, search titles and descriptions, image alt text, and the structured data that helps search engines understand a page.

Whatever a tool produces is a starting point. It is not a source, and it is never the last word on anything we publish.

3. What stays with our editors

• Choosing the story. What we cover, the angle we take and the analysis in an ECN piece are an editor’s call.
• Checking the facts. Names, dates, specifications, prices, production numbers and auction results are checked against primary sources, such as the manufacturer, the auction house, the event organizer or the official record, before publication. When a figure hasn’t been confirmed, we mark it as unconfirmed or leave it out. We don’t let a tool fill the gap.
• Approving what runs. Nothing goes live on ECN without an editor’s approval, and the byline tells you which editor answers for each story.
• Deciding on corrections. When a reader reports a problem, an editor reviews it and decides what changes.

4. What AI never does at ECN

• Invent quotes, sources, interviews, test results or events. A quotation in our coverage comes from a real person, on the record or in a published source we credit.
• Stand in for first-hand experience. When an article says we drove a car, attended an event or inspected a vehicle, a member of our team did.
• Write under a made-up name. Every byline belongs to a real editor who is accountable for that article.
• See confidential material. We don’t enter the identity of a confidential source, or readers’ personal information, into AI tools.

5. Our images at a glance

A manufacturer or organizer that supplies images gets no say over our coverage.

6. How to tell a visualization from a photograph

Check the caption. Visualizations inside an article are captioned “Editorial visualization: Exotic Car News.” Photographs carry a photo credit.

The lead image follows the same rule. Some of our page layouts display the image at the top of an article without a caption. If an image on ECN doesn’t carry a photo credit, treat it as an editorial visualization.

Still not sure? Ask us through our contact page and include the article link. We’ll tell you what the image is.

7. Our rules for AI-generated images

• No real people. We don’t generate images of real, identifiable people, whether drivers, executives, collectors or anyone else.
• Never a record. A visualization is never offered as evidence of how a particular car, place or event actually looked. We don’t create scenes of real launches, auctions, shows, races or accidents and present them as what happened.
• A specific model is an interpretation. When a story is about one car, a visualization may show that model so you can picture what we’re describing, and its caption makes clear it is an illustration, not a photograph of that car. Proportions, colors, wheels, interior details and badging can differ from the real thing. For exact details, go to the manufacturer’s own images, and don’t rely on a visualization for a purchase, valuation or restoration decision.
• Logos and lettering stay out. We brief our image tools to leave out manufacturer logos, badges and text, and we regenerate an image when they appear legibly anyway.
• Every image is reviewed. Each visualization is checked at full size before it’s published, for distorted details, stray text and anything that could mislead.

8. How we treat photographs

We crop, resize and correct exposure and color. We don’t use AI, or any other tool, to add, remove or change what a photograph shows. An image that has been built or substantially altered is an illustration, and we label it as one.

9. Advertising

The ads on ECN are selected and served by our advertising partners’ automated systems, not chosen by our editors, and they aren’t part of our editorial content. Our Privacy Policy explains how that advertising works and how to limit ad personalization.

10. Our content and AI training

Using ECN’s articles or images to train, fine-tune or evaluate AI systems requires a written licence from us. Our Terms of Use set out those rights. If you’d like to license our archive, reach us through our contact page.

11. If something looks wrong

If a passage or an image seems misleading, or you think a visualization could be mistaken for a photograph, tell us through our contact page. Include the article link and what caught your eye. An editor reviews every report, and where a change is needed, we update the text, the caption or the image in the article itself.

12. Changes to this page

The tools we use change quickly, and this page changes with them. The date at the top always shows the current version.

13. Contact us

Questions about how we use AI, or about a specific image:

Exotic Car News
A publication of Exotic Motors Media LLC
Reach us through our contact page.