Editorial Guidelines

Editorial independence

AI Tool Signal earns affiliate commissions on outbound links. Those commissial relationships do not influence:

• Whether a tool gets reviewed
• The score we assign
• The ranking in pillar pages
• Whether a tool appears in "best of" lists or guides

We have published below-7.0 scores on tools we earn commissions on, and we will continue to. Several of our highest-ranked tools (Midjourney, Cursor) have no affiliate program at all.

Fact-checking standards

Every claim of fact in a review is verified against:

1. Direct testing in our own paid account
2. Official documentation from the vendor
3. At least one third-party reference (TechCrunch, The Verge, vendor changelogs) for historical or financial claims

Mistakes get visible corrections at the top of the article with the date and what changed.

Use of AI in our own work

We use AI tools to:

• Draft outlines and brainstorm angles
• Summarize long source documentation
• Generate test prompts for evaluation
• First-pass copy editing

We do not use AI to:

• Write reviews end-to-end without human revision
• Generate pros/cons lists without verification
• Fabricate testing claims, screenshots, or quotes

Every published review is written, fact-checked, and signed off by a named human author.

Sources and citations

When we cite specific numbers (market share, funding, user counts, ranking data), we link to the source. Vendor self-reported numbers are flagged as such. Hallucinated citations from AI tools are a fireable offense for any contributor.

Update and correction policy

Trigger	Response time
Significant pricing change	Within 7 days
New major feature	Within 30 days
Routine review refresh	Every 90 days
Factual error reported	Within 48 hours

Submit corrections via contact.

Sponsored content policy

If we accept sponsored coverage, it will be:

• Clearly labeled "Sponsored Review" at the top of the page
• Scored using the same 5-factor rubric as unsponsored reviews
• Subject to the same disclosure of methodology

Sponsored does not mean positive. We have not, to date, accepted any sponsored review.

Reviewer credentials

Reviews are written by people who use the tools in real work, not generalist content marketers. Each review carries a byline with the reviewer's relevant background (e.g., "Senior Editor · 7 years content writing experience").

Reader feedback

We respond to every fact-check request, correction submission, and reader email at our published address. Substantive feedback improves the next review cycle.

Approval workflow

1. Reviewer drafts after 14+ days of hands-on testing
2. Senior editor reviews for methodology adherence
3. Fact-checker verifies all numbers and citations
4. Final score is independently calculated from the rubric
5. Publishing approval requires sign-off from a second senior editor

This is the internal process. It exists because the alternative, vendor-friendly content marketing, is what we built this site to be the opposite of.