ETHICAL AI and WRITER’S TOOLBOX

Writer’s Toolbox is committed to developing and deploying educational solutions that leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) responsibly and ethically. We believe AI can be a powerful tool for enhancing human achievement in writing and thinking which can lead to greater educational outcomes, engagement, confidence, socio-emotional competencies, critical thinking, and metacognitive abilities. We work hard to ensure our use of AI aligns with ethical principles and respects user privacy.

Toolbox AI is different from generative AI tools in the market. Toolbox AI is Educational AI. We don't give answers; we train thinkers. We believe AI should be a tool to empower humans, not replace them. We uphold the power of AI to teach thinking, not do the thinking for the human. To train and coach greater cognitive capability, rather than encourage cognitive offloading. We maintain human oversight over all our AI-powered features. People matter.

Our Core Principles for Ethical AI

Mutual Benefit. We use AI to support and enhance human growth and potential by using AI to craft customised educational experiences meeting a user’s particular needs and aspirations, and to help us provide those things to our users and customers.
Transparency and Explainability. We strive to create AI models that are transparent and explainable. This means users should understand how our AI features arrive at decisions and recommendations.
Fairness and Non-discrimination. We are committed to developing AI that is fair and unbiased. We will actively mitigate potential biases in our algorithms and datasets to ensure all users are treated equally.
Privacy and Security. We respect user privacy and take data security very seriously. We will implement robust safeguards to protect user data and ensure it is used only for the intended purposes as outlined in our Privacy Notice.
Responsibility, Human Oversight, and Accountability. We put the learner first in everything we do, taking ownership of our AI models from development through to performance. AI is a tool to cultivate and empower—not supplant—human learning and thought.
Continuous Improvement. We recognise that AI is a constantly evolving field. We are committed to ongoing research and development to ensure our AI practices remain ethical and responsible.

How Toolbox Achieves these Principles

Regularly audit our AI models and datasets to identify and address potential biases.
Implement robust security measures to protect user data and prevent unauthorized access.
Implement internal trainings on the ethical implications of AI and best practices for responsible development and deployment.
Be transparent about how we use AI in our solutions and provide clear explanations for AI-driven recommendations.
Continuously improve our AI practices by staying informed of the latest research and developments in the field of ethical AI.

We believe that by adhering to these principles, we can leverage the power of AI to create a powerful holistic learning experience for users, while also promoting trust and transparency.

This statement is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to ethical AI. We will update this statement as our technology and practices evolve.

Transparency Statement: How Toolbox AI Works

Writer's Toolbox takes transparency seriously. Unlike generative AI, Writer's Toolbox AI never gives a student answers. Instead, our Educational AI has been built to teach a student, upholding the principles of academy integrity and robustness.

Toolbox AI analyses writing according to a range of writing metrics, including style, structure, form, grammatical and syntactical devices, and other composition quality indicators.

Once writing is analysed, many signals help Toolbox’s AI and educational algorithms rank and select appropriate responses. All responses to you are human written, curated by a team of education professionals, designed to teach, challenge, inspire, and encourage.

When deciding the human-written response and advice to give you, our algorithms take into account the following main factors:

The qualities of the written work according to acceptable conventions of writing and composition
The qualities of the written work according to the age and ability of the writer
The qualities of the written work according to standards expected by curriculum systems
The user’s profile and writing skills as evident in other pieces of writing or as set by a teacher, school, or parent
The user’s preferences
How the user responded to previous responses
How previous users have responded to previous requests
How recently the response was created, to help you get a variety of fresh, high-quality responses.
How well a response works to improve a work given the particular qualities of the piece of writing presented. For example, the most pressing improvement required to a piece of writing, not necessarily the one most obvious to the user.
The type of piece you are writing (genre, type, style)

These main factors for ranking are weighted differently based on how you’re engaging with Toolbox, your personal preferences, and your writing profile.

Toolbox always uses other criteria, such as writing conventions, curriculum standards, and user performance, not just your own activity to determine the best responses to your requests.

Toolbox uses different types of information to make your experience more useful and relevant. Depending on your settings, Toolbox will reference data in your Account to get you the assistance you require.
You can also use My Account to view, and manage activity with Writer’s Toolbox services.
Your local school administrator may override or set some controls and expectations in Toolbox which will amend your user experience and decide what content you see and also personalise your user experience to a greater degree.