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Faber includes 'Human Written' stamp on Sarah Hall's Helm in anti-AI bid
A "Human Written" stamp will be featured on the front cover of Helm (Faber), the 10th book by Booker Prize-nominated author Sarah Hall, which will be published on 28th August 2025.
Faber has developed this stamp following a request by the author, who wants to ensure that readers are aware that the book does not include any machine-generated content.
Hall has claimed that her published body of work has been used to train large language models without consent or compensation, a practice she described as "creative larceny at scale". The author is calling for increased regulation to protect writers and their work.
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The new stamp – a "maker’s mark" for books – will "offer literature consumers a choice", said Hall. "Writers are fighting to protect the authenticity of their craft, and this mark is one way of doing that," she said.
"Helm took me 20 years to write," Hall added. "AI might mimic the words more rapidly, but it hasn’t felt the Helm wind. It hasn’t bled on the page. And it doesn’t have a family to support."
Faber CEO Mary Cannam said: "At Faber we believe in the unique power of human creativity and imagination, and our job as publisher is to find and amplify the very best that the human mind can create, through the written word. The Faber colophon will always represent this human-written provenance, and we are keen to support Sarah in any way in furthering this vital message."
Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association, commented: “AI has led to a rise of low-quality books and it’s concerning that this could harm consumer confidence and fundamental trust – particularly online. We recognise that informed consumers are going to be crucial as we progress in the AI landscape and that labelling of some sort is going to play a role in that. The future of labelling was a part of the government’s consultation earlier this year and remains a very live policy topic for our sector as well as others. We look forward to conversations with online retailers such as Amazon on what can be done as we progress to make sure consumers continue to have trust in what they’re buying, for example through innovations in reporting mechanisms, labelling and potentially taking down content.”
