UK Authors Society launches slogan to recognize books written by humans, not artificial intelligence | Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Society of Authors (SoA) has launched a scheme to help identify works written by humans in a market increasingly flooded with books produced by artificial intelligence.

The scheme, the first of its kind launched by a trade association in the UK, allows authors to register their books and download a ‘Human Authored’ logo to display on their back cover.

The SoA said the absence of any government action to force technology companies to label output generated by AI meant that readers were struggling to distinguish between books written by humans, and machine-generated work based on AI models trained on copyrighted works without permission or payment.

It mirrors a similar scheme launched by the US Authors Guild at the beginning of 2025.

Mary Beard, a classic, is one of several high-profile authors who have supported the scheme and plan to register their work on the Human Authored website. “Only books written by man will be on my desert island,” she said.

Children’s author Mallory Blackman said the program “seeks to highlight imagination, commitment, craftsmanship and care to produce stories and books that everyone can enjoy.”

“Any creative endeavor requires time, effort, a willingness to learn from mistakes and failure, and the determination to persevere – essential, lifelong skills that cannot be learned and honed by letting AI do all our creative thinking and production for us.

“Certainly part of the joy of reading, listening to songs, watching films and dramas, looking at a work of art, and indeed, sharing any creative endeavor is that feeling of connection with the creator, that feeling that they are speaking to you on a deep emotional level that is completely absent when the work is produced by AI.”

The scheme and logo were launched by novelist Tracey Chevalier at the London Book Fair on Tuesday.

It comes as thousands of authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman, have published a “blank” book to protest against AI companies using their work without permission.

The work, titled Don’t Steal This Book, includes only a list of the authors’ names. Copies are being distributed to attendees at the London Book Fair, a week before the UK government is due to release an assessment of the economic cost of proposed changes to copyright law.

Anna Ganley, CEO of SoA, said in a recent survey that 82% of SoA author members said they would be interested in a human authorship certification scheme.

“Since generative AI platforms became mainstream, SoA has campaigned to defend the interests of authors and protect creators against the widespread theft of their works by AI technology companies to train their chatbots,” she said.

“Our new rating system is an important glue for protecting and promoting human creativity rather than AI-rated content in the market.”