The Society of Authors (SoA) has introduced a new scheme to help readers identify books written by humans, as AI-generated works flood the market. The initiative, the first of its kind by a UK trade association, allows authors to register their books and download a 'Human Authored' logo to display on the back cover.
The SoA stated that the lack of government measures to compel tech companies to label AI-generated output has left readers struggling to distinguish between human-written and machine-generated works. The scheme mirrors a similar effort by the Authors Guild in the US, launched in early 2025.
High-profile authors including Mary Beard and Malorie Blackman have backed the scheme. Beard commented, 'It’s only going to be human authored books on my desert island.' Blackman added, 'Any creative endeavour requires time, effort, a willingness to learn from mistakes... surely part of the pleasure of reading is that sense of connection with the content creator.'
The logo was launched by novelist Tracy Chevalier at the London Book Fair on Tuesday. It comes as thousands of authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro and Philippa Gregory, published an 'empty' book titled Don’t Steal This Book to protest AI firms using their work without permission.
Anna Ganley, chief executive of the SoA, noted that 82% of members expressed interest in the certification scheme. She said, 'Our new labelling scheme is an important sticking plaster to protect and promote human creativity in lieu of AI labelled content in the marketplace.'
