AI Ethics Statement – Silicon Canals

Meet Bella: Our AI Newsroom

Hey there! We know you’re busy building the future, so we wanted to be upfront about how we’re using AI to keep you informed about what’s happening in the European tech startup ecosystem. Meet Bella – our AI newsroom assistant that helps us bring you the latest startup news, predominantly funding rounds, and industry insights faster than ever.

The tech behind the magic

We’ve built Bella using a mix of the best AI models out there – primarily Claude and OpenAI – along with our own proprietary prompting and custom-designed workflows that we’ve fine-tuned for tech journalism. As you know, the AI world moves fast, so we’ll keep evolving our tech stack to stay current.

Humans are still running the show

Here’s the thing: we love AI, but we’re not about to hand over the keys to the kingdom just yet. Every single piece of content that Bella creates goes through our experienced tech journalists. They’re the ones who understand what matters to entrepreneurs and VCs like you, and they’re watching every step of the process to make sure we’re delivering the quality content you expect from us.

Where our Stories Come From

Bella doesn’t just make stuff up either (thankfully!). Everything she writes is based on sources that our human journalists have carefully researched and curated. We’re talking about:

• Press releases and pitches from the companies you care about
• Direct quotes from founders, VCs, and industry leaders
• Financial data and company information, public and private
• Other relevant data points that matter to the ecosystem

Our journalists curate this information first, so Bella is working with the good stuff – not random internet clutter.

Keeping our voice authentic

You know our style by now – we write for people who actually understand tech, not for your grandmother trying to figure out what a unicorn startup is. Every article Bella writes follows our style guide to keep that authentic SiliconCanals voice you’re used to. We’re not interested in generic AI content that could be about any industry.

Double fact-checking everything

We’re pretty paranoid about accuracy (in a good way). Every article gets a double fact-check:

• First by our human tech journalists who know the European startup scene inside and out
• Then by AI systems that cross-reference data and catch things humans might miss

It’s like having two sets of eyes on everything, which is especially important when we’re talking about funding amounts, valuations, and other details that matter to your investment decisions.

When we mess up (because sometimes we might)

Look, we’re not perfect. Neither is the technology. If we get something wrong, just let us know. We promise to fix it fast – within 24 hours max, but hopefully much faster than that. We’d rather be known for correcting mistakes quickly than pretending we never make them. Your trust matters more than our ego.

Our ethical guidelines

We’ve built our AI practices around an ethics framework based on Poynter’s guidelines for generative AI in journalism. Basically, we’re following the same principles that guide traditional newsrooms, just with some cool tech helping us move faster.

Why we’re telling you all this

Transparency isn’t just good practice – it’s essential when you’re making decisions based on the information we provide. You deserve to know how we create our content, especially when AI is involved. We’re not trying to hide behind fancy algorithms; we’re using them to serve you better.

That’s why we clearly list a disclaimer – isn’t that how you got here in the first place?

We’re constantly improving our processes and would love to hear what you think. After all, you’re the ones building the companies we write about – your feedback helps us get better at covering the ecosystem you’re creating. 

Questions?

Do you have any thoughts on how we’re doing? Want to know more about our process? Just reach out. We’re always happy to chat about journalism, AI, or whatever’s happening in European tech.

Rest assured, our AI Newsroom assistant is not a Potemkin Village. We firmly believe the future of journalism is AI-powered yet remains human-centric.

Contact us.

We update this page as our practices evolve. Last updated: June 2025