Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is disrupting the creative industries, with authorship and the value of human creativity at the heart of the debate between artists, governments, and tech entrepreneurs. The speed at which AI and its use is progressing in our society is dizzying. Governments and legal systems the world over are scrambling to keep pace, and increasingly we are seeing artists seeking to guarantee the true human authorship behind their works.
There is an emerging need for universal standards and intellectual property law, namely trade mark law, may offer a solution via certification marks.
Why do we need to guarantee human authorship?
AI-generated works have become sophisticated and much more prevalent, increasing the risk of confusion to consumers and the arts industry. Last year, the band The Velvet Sundown confused both when it appeared on Spotify alongside human artists and gained over 850,000 monthly listeners before being exposed as AI.
Some of the creative industry is embracing AI. Bollywood’s Intelliflicks and post-production AI start-up InterPositive (created by Ben Affleck) both pride themselves on AI-driven filmmaking. The AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood has also just released a music video, Take The Lead, which calls on actors to embrace AI.
But there is significant backlash too. The Make it Fair campaign dominated the front pages on 25 February 2025, marking the final day of the UK Government’s consultation on AI, advocating for stronger copyright protection and more recently, the Don’t Steal This Book campaign saw nearly 10,000 authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Ali Smith, and Richard Osman publish an empty book in protest against AI data mining.
There is an emerging trend of creators attaching disclaimers and logos to their works to clarify that no AI has been used. The end credits of Heretic starring Hugh Grantincluded ‘no generative AI was used in the making of this film’, and Faber & Faber has started putting a ‘Human Written’ stamp onto some of its books.
How do we define human authorship?
Under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 a work’s author is ‘the person who creates it’, but for computer generated works the author is ‘the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work’.
The organisations Books By People and Human Authored define human authorship differently. For something to be truly “human authored”, a human must be behind both the creative input and creative output, and any use of AI should be minimal (for things like spell-checking and formatting).
Is a logo automatically a certification mark?
No, but a logo can be registered as a certification mark. A certification mark is a specific type of trade mark that indicates the goods and services to which it is attached, comply with particular standards or possess certain characteristics that use of that mark guarantees. An example of a well-known certification mark is the “Fairtrade” logo for food and textiles which guarantees ethical sourcing, workers’ fair pay and environmental standards across the supply chain. Like standard trade marks, certification marks are registered with a country’s intellectual property registry, such as the UK Intellectual Property Office (“UK IPO”).
Does the UK have a “human authored” certification mark yet?
Books by People have filed the certification mark “BOOKS BY PEOPLE” and logo at the UK IPO. The mark is currently in the examination stage, and five publishing houses have signed up on the Books by People website to use it.
UK-based international film agency Mise En Scène Company (“MSC”) has launched a “No AI Used” logo and created a classification system for the use of AI in film.
The UK Government addressed labelling of AI and human-created content in their Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence published on 18 March 2026, acknowledging the importance of clear labelling to inform people’s choices. It promises to work with the creative industry to explore best practice on labelling AI-generated content as well as continued monitoring to find common solutions.
Conclusion
The race to establish a universal standard and recognisable labels for human authorship is on, and we will be watching this space. We are likely to see more logos appear in creative arts and consumer spaces, as well as more disclaimers on films, TV, advertising, music, arts and books the world over, as well as the registration of more certification marks.
This article is human-authored by Emily Eastburn-Pentreath, trainee solicitor in the Intellectual Property Team.
Get in touch
If you need any intellectual property law advice, please contact Emily Eastburn-Pentreath (Trainee Solicitor) at emily.eastburn-pentreath@murrellslaw.com or Rebecca Anforth (Legal Director) by email at rebecca.anforth@murrellslaw.com.
