As AI-generated writing becomes harder to spot, an Australian-based service called Proudly Human is the latest company in an increasingly crowded field offering to certify that books and other cultural products were made by people.

The company was founded late last year by Alan Finkel, who previously served as the Australian government’s chief scientist, or top science advisor. The idea grew out of his own book, Powering Up (Black Inc.), which he finished in February 2023, just months after ChatGPT was released. “I thought, I hope nobody thinks it helped me,” he said. At his request, the publisher added a “Declaration of Human Origin” to the copyright page.

To apply for Proudly Human certification, authors must first attest that their use of AI was “de minimis,” a legal term meaning too small to count, under a standard adapted from U.S. Copyright Office guidance. AI may help with research, brainstorming, and tasks like spell-checking, but not with writing sentences or paragraphs. The company pledges not to use uploaded manuscripts to train AI systems.

Proudly Human Promises to Certify AI-Free Books