Introduction
Required role: catalog admin during course creation. Course admin can manage branding after the course is created.
Brand voice helps ensure that AI-generated content in Content365 Authoring reflects your organization’s writing style.
You can define how AI should write by configuring preferences such as tone, language, writing perspective, sentence length, and terminology. They can then choose whether to apply these preferences when creating a Content365 Authoring course via Generate with AI and Transform a document.
Using brand voice helps your organization create course content that is clear, recognizable, and consistent across Content365 Authoring.
In this article, we explain what brand voice is, how to configure it in the brand kit, how to apply it when generating content, and how the default language setting works.
In this article:
- What is brand voice?
- Open brand voice settings
- Configure brand voice
- Understand brand voice settings
- Apply brand voice when generating content
- Restore default brand voice settings
- Understand the difference between brand voice and themes
- Understand the relationship between brand voice and custom AI instructions
- Frequently asked questions
What is brand voice?
Brand voice is part of the Content365 Authoring brand kit.
While brand kit themes control the visual appearance of AI-generated courses, brand voice controls how AI-generated text is written and structured.
For example, you can use brand voice to establish:
- Whether the writing should be formal or casual.
- Whether the overall tone should be serious or playful.
- How concise or detailed the content should be.
- Whether the content should address learners directly.
- Which words, product names, and spellings AI should use.
- Which words, phrases, or terminology AI should avoid.
- The preferred length of sentences.
- Which language AI should use.
- The preferred style for generated or selected images.
Configuring these preferences helps you produce content that reflects your organization’s communication standards across different courses.
Brand voice isn't automatically applied to every generation. You choose whether to apply it using the Use Brand Voice toggle when creating a Content365 Authoring course via Generate with AI and Transform a document. This provides organization-level consistency while enabling you to decide when brand voice is appropriate for a particular course or screen.
TIP
Apply brand voice when consistency with your organization’s writing standards is important. You can leave it off if you want to explore an alternative style or if the organization-level settings aren’t appropriate for a specific piece of content.
Before configuring brand voice, consider gathering examples from your organization’s existing style guide, product documentation, website, customer communications, or learning content. These can help you define clear preferences and provide representative “Sounds like us” examples.
IMPORTANT
Applying brand voice helps guide AI generation, but you should still review generated content before using or publishing it. Check the content for accuracy, clarity, appropriate terminology, and suitability for the intended audience.
Open brand voice settings
1. In a new or existing course, select the theme icon () near the top of the screen.
2. Select Brand kit. The Brand kit panel opens on the Themes section.
Select Brand voice in the left-hand panel. The Brand voice section opens.
NOTE
Brand voice settings are saved at organization level. Any changes to brand voice settings are available to other users.
Configure brand voice
1. Open brand voice. For more information, see Open brand voice.
2. Configure the brand voice settings. For more information, see Understand brand voice settings.
3. Select Save.
The settings are saved at organization level. You can apply them to subsequent AI generation by enabling the Use Brand Voice toggle in the relevant generation flow.
TIP
You don’t have to complete every setting immediately. Start with the preferences that are most important to your organization, such as primary voice, default language, preferred terminology, and avoided terminology. You can refine the remaining settings as your organization develops its writing standards.
IMPORTANT
Review your brand voice settings periodically to ensure they continue to reflect your organization’s current product names, terminology, writing standards, and communication style.
Understand brand voice settings
The following settings are available in the Brand voice section. Settings are grouped under:
- Tone & personality
- Writing style & structure
- Vocabulary
- Examples
- Generated images.
Primary voice
Found under Tone & personality.
Enter a short description of your organization’s overall writing style, for example "Professional and approachable, with a focus on clarity.".
The description should give AI a clear overview of how generated content should sound.
TIP
Use specific, compatible characteristics. For example, “professional, friendly, and concise” provides clearer guidance than a broad description such as “engaging.”
Avoid including conflicting instructions, such as asking AI to be both highly detailed and concise.
Default language
Found under Tone & personality.
The Default language setting controls the language used for AI-generated content.
When a default language is set in brand voice:
- AI uses that language for generated content.
- The language selection step is skipped when creating a Content365 Authoring course via Generate with AI and Transform a document.
- You don’t have to choose the same language during each generation flow.
This removes a manual step for organizations that consistently create content in one language.
If no default language is configured, you're prompted to choose a language during each generation flow, as before.
TIP
Configure a default language if most or all admins in the organization prepare content in the same language. If you regularly prepare content in different languages, leaving this setting blank enables admins to select the appropriate language for the course they're working on.
NOTE
Consider how an organization-wide default language might affect other users who create multilingual content. Because the setting applies across the organization, make sure it reflects the needs of all relevant authoring teams.
Brand voice traits
Found under Tone & personality.
Use the trait sliders to position your brand voice along different writing-style spectrums.
These preferences help determine the overall style and level of detail used in generated content.
TIP
Consider your course content and target audience when configuring these traits. A conversational style might be appropriate for learner-facing guidance, while regulatory or compliance training might require a more formal and precise approach.
Writing perspective
Found under Tone & personality.
Choose the grammatical perspective that AI-generated content should use. For example:
Second person addresses the learner directly using terms such as “you” and “your.”
Third person refers to people, learners, users, or other subjects without addressing them directly.
TIP
Second person can make instructions and learner guidance feel more direct and actionable. Whichever perspective you choose, use it consistently with your organization’s existing writing standards.
Sentence length preference
Found under Writing style & structure.
Set a preference for short, medium, or long sentences. Sentence length can affect how quickly learners understand and process information.
TIP
Shorter sentences are generally easier to scan, particularly in instructions and digital learning content. Longer sentences may be useful when a concept requires additional context, but they should remain clear and easy to follow.
Preferred terminology
Found under Vocabulary.
Enter words or phrases that AI should use in generated content. For example, you can add:
- Official product names
- Preferred spellings
- Role names
- Organization-specific terminology
- Approved descriptions of features or processes.
TIP
Add terminology that you frequently need to correct manually. This can reduce editing and help keep terminology consistent across courses.
Be specific when entering product and feature names, including preferred capitalization where relevant.
Terms to avoid
Found under Vocabulary.
Enter words or phrases that AI should avoid. For example, you can add:
- Deprecated product names
- Outdated terminology
- Unnecessary jargon
- Competitor names
- Terms that don’t align with your organization’s communication standards.
TIP
Where possible, include the preferred replacement in the Preferred terminology field. This tells AI not only what to avoid but also what it should use instead.
Sounds like us
Found under Examples.
Add sample text that represents your organization’s writing style. AI uses these examples as a reference when generating content.
Effective examples should demonstrate the qualities you want AI to reproduce, such as:
- Tone
- Structure
- Vocabulary
- Sentence length
- Level of formality
- How instructions address the learner.
TIP
Choose concise, representative examples rather than copying large amounts of text. Use approved content that clearly reflects your organization’s current writing style.
Avoid examples that contain outdated product names, temporary campaign language, or writing styles that are specific to only one audience unless that style should be used throughout the organization.
Generate images during course creation
NOTE
All the settings under Generated images can help AI-generated course imagery align more closely with your organization’s visual standards.
Found under Generated images.
Choose whether AI-generated courses fill image placeholders from your library first, then generate images when allowed by setting this toggle.
Image style
Found under Generated images.
When automatically generating images, choose the radio button that matches the required style:
- Photo
- Cinematic
- Drawing
- Vector
- Painting.
Imagery to avoid
Found under Generated images.
Select the types of things you'd like to avoid when generating images by selecting the required radio button:
- Text in images
- Children
- Weapons
- Other (list additional things to exclude). Here, you can enter specific requirements, for example "blurry backgrounds, dark shadows".
By default, the first three checkboxes are selected.
TIP
Describe visual preferences clearly and consistently. Where relevant, identify unsuitable styles and subject matter in the exclusions so you need fewer manual corrections.
Apply brand voice when generating content
For information about how to apply brand voice when creating courses:
- See this article about creating a course from a prompt
- See this article about creating a course from a document.
For information about how to apply brand voice when generating a screen with AI, see this article.
Restore default brand voice settings
To remove your custom brand voice configuration and return to the default settings, select Restore defaults, then Save changes.
IMPORTANT
Restoring defaults removes any custom brand voice settings you have configured for your organization.
Understand the difference between brand voice and themes
Brand voice and themes are both available from the brand kit, but they control different aspects of AI-generated content.
While brand kit themes control the visual appearance of AI-generated courses, brand voice controls how AI-generated text is written and structured.
| Brand kit element | What it controls | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | The visual appearance of generated courses. | Colors, fonts, logos, and layout. |
| Brand voice | The writing style of generated text. | Tone, vocabulary, perspective, terminology, and sentence structure. |
Both can be configured independently.
Enabling brand voice doesn’t change the theme applied to a course. Similarly, applying a theme doesn’t automatically apply brand voice to generated text.
For the most consistent course experience, you can use a theme to align the visual design with your organization’s identity and brand voice to align the written content with its communication style.
Understand the relationship between brand voice and custom AI instructions
Brand voice in Content365 Authoring is separate from the custom AI instructions setting in Learn365.
- Brand voice applies to content generated through Content365 Authoring.
- Custom AI instructions apply to Learn365’s native AI features.
Custom AI instructions don’t control content generated through Content365 Authoring. To influence the writing style, terminology, and language used by Content365 Authoring, configure brand voice settings in the Content365 Authoring brand kit.
IMPORTANT
If your organization uses both Learn365 AI features and Content365 Authoring, review the settings in both places. Where appropriate, align their guidance to promote consistent terminology and communication across your learning content.
Frequently asked questions
Why can’t I see the Use Brand Voice toggle?
The Use Brand Voice toggle is displayed only when brand voice has been configured and saved in the brand kit.
If it isn’t displayed, you can go to Brand kit > Brand voice, configure the relevant settings, and select Save changes.
Is brand voice automatically applied to all generated content?
No. You can choose whether to apply brand voice using the Use Brand Voice toggle when creating a Content365 Authoring course via Generate with AI and Transform a document.
This means that brand voice is configured at organization level but applied at the point of generation.
Does brand voice change the visual appearance of a course?
No. Brand voice controls the writing style of AI-generated text.
Themes control visual elements such as colors, fonts, logos, and layout. Brand voice and themes can be configured and applied independently.
Does Learn365 custom AI instructions control content generated in Content365 Authoring?
No. Custom AI instructions apply to Learn365’s native AI features.
Content generated through Content365 Authoring uses its own brand voice configuration.
What happens if no default language is configured?
You're prompted to select a language as part of each generation flow, as before.
What happens when a default language is configured?
AI uses the configured language for generated content. The language selection step is automatically skipped when creating a Content365 Authoring course via Generate with AI and Transform a document.
Can I generate content without applying brand voice?
Yes. You can leave the Use Brand Voice toggle off. AI then ignores the saved brand voice settings and uses its default behavior for that generation.
Should I review content generated using brand voice?
Yes. Brand voice guides the style of AI-generated content, but you should still review the output for accuracy, clarity, terminology, and suitability before using or publishing it.