When generative AI systems first became widely available to the mainstream public, they weren’t intended to be used as writing assistants for the general population.

In fact, they were originally designed for specialist users; government agencies, military planners, computer scientists and software developers. Their purpose was to assist with the most time-consuming and repetitive tasks that could help with research, data processing, and even logistics.

With the public launch of ChatGPT in 2022, millions of people gained access to the software, giving them the capability of writing code, producing written content and answering questions within seconds.

Suddenly, AI systems became an everyday utility; helping people brainstorm ideas, summarise information, automate tasks and doing anything to speed up their workflows.

Yet, as the AI technology advanced, the line began to blur between assistance and substitution.

Within a myriad of industries, AI systems became the go-to-tool as the solution for everything. By entering a short instructive prompt, software enthusiasts began to create and launch various projects such as apps and websites, content creators generated artwork, images, and podcasts, and would-be authors automatically produced entire novels.

In time, the AI tools were being used beyond simply assisting human productivity in the workplace, and somewhere along the way, they began to replace human-creativity.

The creative industry, in particular, is rightfully concerned. Because we are currently living in a time where trust in what we see in front of us is constantly called into question.

And the question most human creators are asking is:

If AI can generate content, convincing enough to mimic human-created works with increasing accuracy, how can audiences identify and support human creators?

Certification Instead of Detection

Concerns surrounding AI content has only continued to grow.

Social media comments are rife with accusations of anything posted having been created by a machine. In schools and universities, AI made schoolwork much easier to complete, but also raised questions about cheating and academic integrity. And there’s another major issue relating to the use of unlicensed creative material, that is undermining human authorship and copyright protections.

Despite many industries selecting to replace human skills with the cheaper, and faster abilities of AI systems, as more people became worried about plagiarism, misinformation and the trending description of ‘AI slop,’ AI detection tools were built to perform as a lie detector for AI generated content.

While these detection tools could analyse text for patterns commonly associated with machine-written language, or examine images searching for visual anomalies, a common issue was that as AI systems kept advancing, many of these tools only left consumers increasingly wanting to know who, or what, was behind the created works.

Amongst the creative arts industries, as well as in publishing, journalism and across writing communities, conversations around creative origin and transparency have rapidly grown into uncertainty. Because as generated AI content has began to take over creative markets, human creators are now facing increased competition for their work to be discovered. And for consumers, it’s become more difficult to determine between the work of a human, and the output of a machine.

Without any stringent global guidelines that exist to protect human creators, the global certification body that verifies human-created content across all creative industries, Proudly Human was formed.

“Providing the clarity to confidently choose human-created content is a fundamental right in an era where AI is increasingly masquerading as human,” said Trevor Woods, founding CEO of Proudly Human.

The idea is straightforward. Instead of attempting to police or detect AI, ProudlyHuman focuses on providing human creators the opportunity to have their work reviewed and certified as originating from human creativity, giving audiences a clear and visible trust signal.

When a work carries the ProudlyHuman™ trust certification mark, it means the creator has voluntarily applied to have their work verified, and that it originates from human authorship, having met all the certification criteria.

Similar to how we consumers identify organic food grown according to specific standards, or how fair-trade labels signal that certain products meet ethical supply-chain practices, the ProudlyHuman™ trust mark serves as a clear marker of origin.

The ProudlyHuman™ certification trust mark provides a simple and recognisable signal of authenticity, and provenance, so that anyone can easily identify if something was created by a human or by using AI.

Ethical AI vs AI Substitution

While the debates continue about ethical AI usage, within creative industries the conversation surrounds not if AI tools were used, but how. Because the reality is that not all uses of AI systems are created equal.

There are some AI tools that do support the creative process. However, there are also others than can substitute the creative work entirely. This is where the line gets rather blurry, especially when there are no regulations that provide any guidelines surrounding ethical AI use.

Each individual creator applies their talents to their work. Often that is described as their blood, sweat and tears, and rightfully so, this is what gives human creative work it’s personality and it’s identity. However, like all jobs, there are aspects we’d all rather outsource to someone else.

While the specific mundane tasks will vary, for many creatives, they’d rather handoff the peripheral administrative or bookkeeping requirements, and choose to focus on the creative processes behind the work.

When we think about the original intended purpose of AI tools being to assist human productivity, there’s no doubt AI can be of great assistance with the more time consuming nature of researching sources, performing spelling or grammatical proofreading, and preparing financials.

Even used to brainstorm potential ideas, AI can be a valuable tool.

Proudly Human recognises that modern creators often work with a range of digital tools in this manner, and not all of them equate to replacing human creativity. This is why Proudly Human acknowledges that a creator’s use of AI must be to a fir for purpose de minimis standard.

In simple terms, de minimis refers to using certain tools to gain the most minor or incidental assistance and does not touch any part of the process that meaningfully shapes the creative work itself.

While the de minimis guidelines will vary according to each creative category, a musician, for example might use use AI to convert files, organize track stems or for assistance with background recording of noise reduction.

Above all, what matters is that the ideas, structure, voice and expression of the work remain the product of human authorship, rather than being generated by a machine.

A Writer’s Journey to Certification

Imagine a writer who’s spent months developing an idea.

What started as a spark of inspiration, perhaps scribbled in a notebook or typed into a note on a phone slowly begins to grow. Characters develop, chapters begin to emerge and a story or a viewpoint starts to become clear. The writer’s voice is present in each step, and is visible throughout the work.

In order to focus on the story, the writer may use a range of digital tools to assist them in maintaining focus. Spellcheck might tidy up punctuation. Formatting tools might help organise the chapters. They might even use a tool for brainstorming when they get stuck at a certain point and are confused which direction to take.

The core work the writer has created from that original idea, including the expression, the structure and the storytelling aspect, all originates from deep within the writer.

When the project is complete, the writer can then voluntarily submit it to ProudlyHuman™ for review, and as part of the process, the writer confirms that their work meets the human authorship standard and discloses any tools used during its creation.

After carefully reviewed to ensure that the creative origin of the work remains human, against the ProudlyHuman™ criteria, once approved, the writer’s work receives the ProudlyHuman certification.

What this means for the writer is that their work now displays a clear signal which has met the certification standard for human authorship. This is also something that from that moment forward, can be seen by anyone that the work they are choosing to support, originates from human creativity.

Restoring Clarity in a Changing Creative Landscape

AI tools are developing at a rapid rate, and while technology will continue to evolve, the question of origin becomes increasingly important.

Consumers value the transparency about where the creative work they choose to support, comes from. ProudlyHuman™ believes that human creativity deserves to be celebrated, and that people have a right to know who, or what, was responsible for bringing it into existence.

When AI generated work masquerades as human-made, people are denied the information they deserve to make an informed choice.

ProudlyHuman™ exists to provide that clarity.

Rather than attempting to criticise innovation or entirely ban the use of certain helpful tools, the ProudlyHuman™ certification simply recognises and verifies work that a human poured their heart into.

Any creative work displaying the ProudlyHuman™ certification badge, acts as a simple signal of trust.

It allows creators to demonstrate the authenticity of their work, and it gives audiences a straightforward way to identify and support human-authored content.

There’s no doubt that technology will continue to evolve, just as human imagination will too, and ProudlyHuman™ exists to make sure the difference between the two remains visible.

And when AI tools are used to ethical standards, the possibilities for humans to create authentic human-made work can continue to thrive and be recognised.