Note: This session will take place during the Editors Canada Virtual Training Day and will be available at a discounted rate as part of the Training Day package. Visit the Training Day webpage for the full schedule and package rate.
Generative AI is often presented to editors as just another new tool—a way to write faster, edit more efficiently and meet client demands in an increasingly competitive landscape. But what do we find when we look closer?
This webinar will explore how generative AI intersects with global systems of extraction, inequality and power consolidation—and what editors must consider in response. From the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials to the physical labour and land use that sustain the AI infrastructure, we’ll go beyond the hype to examine generative AI’s full ethical footprint.
Rather than focusing on how to use AI tools, this session will ask:
- Who benefits from AI’s efficiencies—and who bears the cost?
- What does editorial judgment look like in a system built to scale content, not nuance?
- How can editors resist becoming silent partners in extractive systems?
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify the hidden labour, resource use and data extraction practices behind mainstream generative AI tools.
- Articulate the ethical tensions of editorial work on AI-generated content.
- Recognize extractive or bias-reinforcing patterns in AI-generated language.
- Develop a personal or client-facing framework for responsible AI engagement.
This is a call to critical consciousness for editors navigating the generative AI era—to sharpen our technical and ethical skills.
Presenter
Emily Faubert (she/they | elle/iel) is a freelance editor and founder of M.L.E. Style Editing. With a background in journalism and community justice movements, they are a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. Her research explores how “access” is weaponized in tech to exploit disabled users as data while simultaneously eroding labour and inclusion. Emily’s work sits at the intersection of information politics, media ethics and collective resistance.