As writing utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) continues to increase day by day, a proposal has emerged suggesting that books and other publications should explicitly specify inside their covers that they are “AI-assisted works.”

The Korean Publishers Association held an AI policy forum on the 29th at Mapo Central Library in Mapo-gu, Seoul, titled “Beyond Crisis to Coexistence: The Path Forward for the Publishing Ecosystem in the AI Era,” and proposed an AI labeling guideline containing these contents. This forum was arranged to discuss the publishing industry’s response measures to AI, following an emergency forum held in April.

The guidelines proposed on this day suggest categorizing publications into three stages for labeling: △Human-Authored Works, △AI-Assisted Works, and △AI-Generated Publications.

First, “Human-Authored Works” are creations authored by humans. This category also includes cases where AI was used in a limited, auxiliary capacity—such as simple proofreading, outlining, or table-of-contents structuring. In such cases, no separate AI label is applied.

“AI-Assisted Works” refer to creations where human-authored content was supplemented by AI, or where AI-generated content was utilized, but which were ultimately completed through sufficient human control and verification. From this stage onward, the fact of AI utilization must be labeled. “AI-Generated Publications” refer to publications where human substantial control and verification were not carried out regarding the content generated by AI. It is notable that the term “Publication” is used instead of “Work.” This is based on the principle that purely AI-generated matter lacking human creativity does not qualify for copyright protection.

The guidelines also proposed specific locations for labeling. For paper books, the suggestion is to indicate it in at least one of the following locations: inside the cover, on the copyright page (colophon), or on the introductory page. For e-books, the AI utilization status should be indicated in the copyright information, and machine-readable data should also be included in metadata formats such as PDFs. For audiobooks, AI utilization can be announced via voice at the beginning of playback.

According to a survey conducted by the Korean Publishers Association targeting 188 domestic publishing houses throughout July, 76.1% of responding publishers reported utilizing or testing AI. Furthermore, 85.1% answered that “a system to identify and manage publications utilizing AI is necessary.”

Kim Bo-kyung, CEO of G-Wine and Policy Committee Chairperson of the Korean Publishers Association, explained, “We created the guidelines based on whether there is someone who can take responsibility as a copyright holder, rather than the degree of AI involvement. The objective is to protect works that possess human creative and intellectual contributions, even if AI was utilized in part.” The adoption of these guidelines is at the discretion of each individual publisher, with no mandatory enforcement. Baek Won-geun, CEO of the Books and Society Research Institute, noted, “Globally, there are yet no instances of publishing associations introducing labeling systems related to AI. If implemented, South Korea would be the first.”

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