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A new UK-based start-up is targeting the increasing wave of AI-generated publications, launching an program to verify and label human-authored titles.

Organic Literature Certification Initiative

Books By People has launched an “Organic Literature” accreditation, partnering with an initial group of independent publishing houses.

The program will include Natural Writing labels being placed on books authored by people, with only limited AI use permitted for functions such as layout or brainstorming.

International Growth Intentions

The company, founded by antiquarian books specialist Esme Dennys along with Conrad Young and Gavin Johnston, said it intends to grow globally in 2026.

The inaugural accredited title will be Telenovela by Gonzalo C Garcia, publishing this November by Galley Beggar Press. Other partners include Bluemoose Books.

“This initiative is incredibly important for publishing houses, for writers and, most importantly, for readers. It is simultaneously a seal of quality and an assurance of the common human experience that we seek in literature.

“I’m very proud to be the publishing house who will have the inaugural label – and it seems appropriate that that stamp should go on Telenovela, a novel about the fight for truth and against authoritarianism.”

Accreditation Procedure

Publishing houses can qualify through adherence to the program’s criteria and annual spot checks. Costs will differ based on the quantity of books published each year.

Industry Context

The introduction comes at a moment of heightened tension between the creative industries and AI companies. In recent months, Anthropic settled to pay $1.5bn to writers who alleged the company of using unauthorized versions of their books to train its AI assistant.

Moves to foreground human creativity are building momentum. In August, Faber applied a “human-written” label to copies of Sarah Hall’s Helm. At the time, Faber CEO Mary Cannam said the publisher’s logo “continues to signify this human-written provenance”.

Market Scrutiny

The launch also coincides with growing scrutiny of AI-created material on online retailers such as major online stores, which experts have cautioned remain a “unregulated space” due to the lack of oversight around AI-generated texts, and that dangerous misinformation could spread as a result.

Industry Response

Dan Conway, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, welcomed voluntary initiatives to highlight human authorship but said the industry was not presently advocating mandatory labelling.

“As the industry body it’s critical that we keep backing publishers and authors in standing up for human artistry and critical thinking,” he added, adding that the association is urging e-commerce sites like Amazon to take stronger action against “substandard AI-generated material”.