British startup Books by People has secured approval from the UK's Intellectual Property Office to distribute a certification mark for books written entirely by humans. The thumbprint-style stamp, expected to appear on covers by the end of the year, is meant to give readers a way to choose human-authored work amid a wave of AI authorship scandals in publishing. Five publishers have already signed up, paying a flat membership fee plus an additional sum for each book certified.
The certification process goes beyond simple self-declaration. Books by People requires an authorship declaration, runs manuscripts through proprietary software, and manually examines early drafts and research materials for signs of a natural drafting and redrafting process. Cofounder Esme Dennys says the goal is to avoid an AI-detection arms race and to err on the side of the author when evidence is unclear.
The launch comes as the industry grapples with high-profile cases of suspected AI use, including a canceled $2 million book deal and a withdrawn novel. Some writers and publishers welcome the label as a way to protect trust, but others warn that automated detection can produce false positives. Debut author Jerry Falade has said detection software misread his Nigerian dialect as AI-generated, and Publishers' Licensing Services CEO Tom West cautions against turning certification into a witch hunt.
There is also a philosophical disagreement about where the burden should lie. Some argue the default should be that books are human-authored, and platforms or publishers should be required to label AI-generated content rather than forcing authors to prove their humanity. Books by People's approach, which emphasizes document trails and communication records, is deliberately different from technology-first detectors like Pangram, which claims 99.7% accuracy but has drawn criticism for relying on AI itself.