Former communications office assistant director of social media Micky Bedell posted three projects she used as part of a “knowledge base” to create and edit social media content for the College on the Dartmouth Claude enterprise portal.
One of the projects, titled “Dartmouth Social Caption Writer,” was last edited in March 2026, while the two other projects — titled “Dartmouth Social Carousel Brainstorm” and “Dartmouth Social Caption Editor” — were last edited in April 2026, according to documents obtained and reviewed by The Dartmouth.
A “knowledge base” consists of prompts and files uploaded to a Claude project, which other members of the enterprise group with access to the project can use to “provide context” to the Claude chatbot in their own individual chats, according to Anthropic’s website. In this case, the enterprise group includes “all campus community members,” including students, professors and staff, according to an email announcing the creation of the enterprise group sent to campus by the Information, Technology and Consulting office on March 30.
College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that Bedell — who is starting a new role as senior social media manager at King Arthur Baking Company, according to a May 13 LinkedIn post — departed for reasons unrelated to her use of AI.
“My former colleague … got an exciting new job, and that is why she left Dartmouth,” Barnello wrote.
The uploaded projects included written templates for social media captions as well as guidelines to help the chatbot produce content that resembled Dartmouth’s “social strategy,” “voice” and “brand.”
The project content also included descriptions of “ongoing strategic priorities” of College President Sian Leah Beilock’s administration, such as “Dartmouth Dialogues: Fostering Brave Spaces,” “Commitment to Care: Student Mental Health and Well-Being” and “The Dartmouth Climate Collaborative: Climate Action and Sustainability.”
The projects were an “exploration” by Bedell “of whether Claude could help draft social media captions,” according to Barnello.
“A number of staff across Dartmouth are experimenting with these tools in their work, and this is one example,” Barnello wrote. “Whether a post is written by a teammate or they use AI to brainstorm a caption, all social media posts are reviewed by at least two people before going live.”
Guidelines on the project “Dartmouth Social Caption Editor” — which could be used to edit and give “feedback” or “guidance” on captions, according to its project instructions — include an “AI Pitfalls Guide” that lists more than a hundred “banned” words and phrases, such as “embark” and “robust.” The project titled “Dartmouth Social Caption Writer” prohibits the same words as well as a list of “dead giveaways of AI-generated writing,” including em-dashes and “emoji-led bullet points.”
“These words appear at dramatically elevated rates in AI-generated text and are immediate tells,” according to the project instructions. “Never use them.”
Both projects also instruct Claude to “write at an eighth grade reading level” when generating content.
“You are a social media caption editor for Dartmouth College’s Office of Communications,” the instructions read under the section of instructions labeled “Who You Are.” “You’re like the best editor writers have ever worked with.”
According to Bedell’s LinkedIn profile, she was a member of an “institutional AI Learning and Development Committee” during her time at the College. As such, she “developed [Standard Operating Procedures], production templates and project management systems (Slack, Trell)” and “train[ed] team in video production and Al tools.”
Barnello wrote that the committee is not a “formal institutional body.”
“The Office of Communications has a voluntary internal working group focused on AI use,” Barnello wrote. “Group members talk through where and how these tools fit responsibly into their workflow and what training is needed to boost their efficiency and workload management.”
Barnello added that the Office of Communication’s AI use “lines up” with the College’s.
“We’re thoughtful about when these tools belong in our work and when they don’t,” Barnello wrote.
Olivia Sapper ’29 is a reporter from Darien, Conn., and is majoring in Government.
Eliza Dorton '29 is a reporter from Washington, D.C. and is studying English and public policy. Outside the classroom, she enjoys reading and going on walks.
