The Synesthesia Tree is written by a person. I don't use AI to generate texts or other elements on this site.
A few more details about how the site is created and what my policies are in this area:
Informative pages of the Synesthesia Tree:
All the articles and other content on the 120+ information pages of this website were written by a human whose name is Pau Sandham (also known as Pau 365 or just Pau). No AI is used to create any texts for the Tree, and it won't be in future.
Texts by other people included on this site (real cases; descriptions of synesthesia types, quotes from other websites, etc.):
Obviously I can't control how other people have written their texts, but I wouldn't choose any that sound AI-influenced for inclusion on the site and I doubt that there are any on the Tree.
I would make the following exception, if necessary. If anyone whose insufficient knowledge of English has meant that they had no alternative but to use online translation or AI to make sure others can understand their description on the original forum they posted on, I'd consider that OK for inclusion on the Tree, if their case description is especially illustrative, interesting or unique and valuable enough to be used here.
Translations:
All the translations on the Tree are human translations and I do them myself (translating is my profession, in fact).
In the very few specific cases where I cite another website that already contains a text translated from another language, I provide the relevant credits as far as I can in the "source" information below the quote.
As you may already know, I run two websites that are similar: this one (The Synesthesia Tree) and the Spanish one (El Árbol de la Sinestesia). Obviously there has been quite a lot of translation and adaptation work between the two sites (both on creating and launching them back in 2021 and constantly updating them now). I do all the translating myself. I prefer fairly free translations rather than literal renditions: translations with "feeling", sensitive to the tone of the text and giving priority to natural expression. I've been a full-time translator for well over two decades so this is second nature to me if I wish to use this translation style.
I must say that machine translation and AI are producing good stuff now overall, and its use in combination with post-editing by translators or linguists can provide very good results, saving them much basic work (and destroying their jobs in the process, but that's another story). I didn't use that system for the translations on the Tree. Most of the Tree and Árbol sites were created in 2020-2021 anyway, when we didn't use machine translation by default, even though it was already starting to improve enormously at the time.
The Synesthesia Finder:
This feature, a tool for finding types of synesthesia, was entirely created by Pau in 2021 using a system of my own invention. To organise the hidden flowchart behind it I only used Word (backed up by pen and paper sometimes), and Blogger as a CMS and content publishing system to set up the internal linking structure and display it. There was no automated creation involved at all.
Photographs and images:
These are mine except where credited to their authors.
The image strips at the top of each information page are abstract photographs (or occasionally photos of real objects) which I took using my camera or mobile phone, using different methods such as light effects through coloured glass, reflections, acetate overlays, sometimes doing a bit of photoshopping to enhance the colours, combine images or make a point in some other way.
Other people's images illustrating their synesthesia experiences have been credited, mentioning the source and the author. They include reproductions of actual paintings and there are also some creations made using different programs, applications and tools.
I don't think there are any IA-generated images on the site, although I must say that in general, not on the Tree particularly, I think these are acceptable in the synesthesia world as long as they are not overused, because IA is actually an excellent way to recreate an image that really looks like what you are experiencing visually/in your mind's eye as a synesthete. In fact it's often difficult to recreate it any other way, unless you're a brilliant artist or happen to find real-life images you can photograph that look exactly the same as what you're experiencing, which doesn't happen very often.
Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Legal Notice, Cookie Banner:
I generated these via the platforms Termly and Silktide (or just adapting already-existing material, in the case of the Legal Notice), tweaking them to fully adapt to the particular case of the Synesthesia Tree. So they're a bit different from the informative content and may be considered AI-influenced, if that's how they were created by the actual platforms and original sources that wrote them.
Those are the details. But the main thing I want to say on posting this "No AI content" Policy is that the Synesthesia Tree is a traditional informative website that will never make use of effort-free but stylistically questionable AI slop to create quick texts for mass consumption. My readers matter to me. I like writing. "I don't need that shit!", as some of my US readers might put it.
If you've read this far, thanks for your interest! If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to use the comments section below or the contact email on the sidebar.
Further reading (if you haven't had enough):
About the Author: who created this site and why
The Synesthesia Tree: a New Resource for the Synesthesia Community (the paper I presented at the VII International Synesthesia, Science and Art Congress in 2022 in Granada, Spain. It includes sections on how the Tree was created and the situation of machine translation at that time, referring to how information on synesthesia could possibly be disseminated in different countries in the future).
Thank you!
Pau
This page created: 1 April 2026
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