Books are written by people. That was once the case. Today, this must be specifically pointed out.

In film, the real and authentic have long been a rarity. When a breakneck sequence is shot with real people, largely avoiding digital wizardry, it's a selling point these days. Tom Cruise, who claims to perform all his stunts at the risk of his own life, has been promoting his films with this for years.

These days, books written using human intelligence are no longer a given. A "human written" sticker will be affixed to the cover of Booker Prize-nominated author Sarah Hall's tenth book. The renowned British publisher Faber & Faber decided to take this step together with the author.

Hall had claimed that her works had been used to train comprehensive language models without consent or compensation. On her Facebook page, she describes the practice as "creative theft on a grand scale" and calls for stronger regulation to protect writers and their work. Sarah Hall's book, which has already received critical acclaim, is scheduled to be published in German at the end of August under the title "Helm."

Until a few years ago, the suggestion that a book was written by a human would have caused astonishment. Ever since books were invented, the creation of literature has been in the hands of the author. With artificial intelligence, this situation has changed rapidly. All kinds of texts that were previously laboriously crafted can now be created easily and free of charge by AI. Large online retailers, in particular, have been confronted with this problem for several years.

As early as early 2023, the Reuters news agency reported that 200 e-books had been offered for sale on Amazon in which Chat-GPT was officially named as author or co-author. The number of unreported works in which the AI chatbot's collaboration was not explicitly mentioned is likely far higher, and the trend is increasing. These books landed on Amazon bestseller lists – presumably through bots that consumed the books. Children's books for AI production appear to be particularly popular.

The "human written" sticker is not an invention of the English publishing house Faber & Faber. The American writers' association Authors Guild set up an online portal earlier this year through which its members can confirm that their work is the work of their own minds and not of artificial intelligence.

The initiative, called "human authored," allows authors to log in to the portal and register their book. They can then use a specially designed logo on book covers and promotional materials to demonstrate that their work was created without AI. Although currently only Authors Guild members can access the portal and use the logo for their work, the American Writers' Association, which also includes Stephen King and Lee Child, plans to patent the logo and open the system to non-members.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the Society of Authors, the largest British trade union and professional organization for writers, screenwriters, illustrators and translators, has produced guidelines to help its members protect their work from the effects of AI.

Author Richard Osman, who has sold more than ten million books with his "Thursday Murder Club" series, said: "Many AI issues are complex, but this one is very simple. If you want to use a copyrighted work, you have to ask for permission and then pay for it. Anything else is theft."