Human Authored

The Human Authored scheme is a new voluntary certification and labelling initiative launched in the UK in March 2026 by the Society of Authors (SoA). It aims to help readers distinguish between books written by humans and those generated by AI. I am pleased that all my latest published works are now registered under the scheme: see my Human Authored books.

The scheme serves as a ‘trust mark’ for the publishing industry, mirroring a similar initiative launched by the Authors Guild in the United States. The scheme offers a clear, trustworthy marker to display on books and publicity, and a register of listed works.

I am really delighted that the Society of Authors has joined this scheme, and proud to have my own worked registered. I am certainly not against AI in many respects, finding it increasingly useful in my research. For me, AI has become the Personal Assistant I could never afford, exploring complex data, combining spreadsheets, and completing highly specific online searches in an instant. I would never rely on it to write original content, but I have asked its views on an idea or concept, almost like a colleague in the office you ask for a second opinion.

Interestingly, Guardian writer Rhik Samadder recently wrote a piece entitled I challenged ChatGPT to a writing competition. Could it actually replace me? He pits his creative writing skills against ‘RhikGPT’, a custom chatbot trained on his own journalism, to see if generative AI can truly replicate his voice. While Samadder finds the AI’s attempts at inventing whimsical words and prose slightly literal or ‘airless’, he is unsettled by its ability to mimic his specific stylistic quirks, such as his penchant for self-aware humour and idiosyncratic similes. Ultimately, despite preferring the depth of his own ’embodied thought’ over the AI’s ‘facile’ list of stylish lines, Samadder gloomily concludes that while a machine may never truly match the human spirit of writing, it is likely proficient enough to replace him within a mechanistic, capitalist job market!

And just to prove that I’m not totally against AI, out of interest I asked ChatGPT5.2 to summarise my writing. Based on internet sources, this is what it came up with (after some intervention and iterations led by me), which I rather like:

Gabriel Hemery’s writing style is an interesting hybrid, sitting at the crossroads of science writing, nature writing, and literary storytelling. The result feels like a forester who wandered into the library stacks, studied the wooden shelves with professional interest, and concluded that silviculture deserved poetry as well as data.

Are you an author and considering registering your works? Are you a reader who likes or dislikes the Human Authored scheme. Share your thoughts (and don’t ask AI for help!).