Authors Guild recommendations for AI best use practices for using AI ethically

What do I want to say about using AI as a writer and creator? Whatever I say now will need to adapt quickly as AI and its applications to our lives and work evolves exponentially. 

For example, nearly three years ago, in June, 2022, Blake Lemoine was fired for breaking Google data security policies by stating publicly that AI had become sentient. 

As of May, 2025, approximately a dozen lawsuits have been brought in California and New York courts against various AI companies for copyright infringement based on the companies’ unauthorized copying of authors’ works to train their generative AI models. All of the cases brought by individual authors so far are class action lawsuits, meaning that they do not just cover the plaintiffs named in each lawsuit but all people who fall within the “class,” as defined in the lawsuit.

The photo is of me reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center last month, from my book Bite and Blood. I'm a human being, writing poems and other works, publishing a book, and all of these acts are original to me, the blood and brain and air of my lungs and language my body has in-corporated to manifest creativity in this world for others to experience.

Below I’ve copied the recommended policies and ethical uses for AI from the Authors Guild website, an organization that has been supporting working writers and protecting writers writes since 1912.

What questions do these policies shine light on for writers and creators?

·       What is the difference between creating work, generating new writing, and making art to using AI to brainstorm questions, write outlines, and research?

·       What is the value of a piece of writing or art that is 100% created AI-free, by a human? These are questions I'll be considering, and I hope you are also as you think about your creation of writing, art, and work.

·       When we look to an artist or a creative to view, read, or hear their own unique response to a question or to the world, what is it we are looking for? What is it we want in the experience of their response?

·       How original are your own ideas as a writer and artist?

·       What can a human writer and editor add to your writing project beyond AI?

·       What am I missing out on for critical thinking applied to this list of questions by not entering the prompt into ChatGPT to add to this list of questions?

According to the Authors Guild:

Generative AI is a technology writers are using in various ways as a tool or an aid in the writing process. For instance, some writers use generative AI technology to research, outline, brainstorm, and even as a writer partner and to generate characters or text to include in their manuscripts.

If writers choose to use generative AI, they should be aware of and observe some ethical ground rules to protect both their own personal and professional interests and the future of their profession, given that unauthorized, unrestricted, and uncompensated use of authors’ works to train generative AI has created tools that are used to displace professional writers and create a serious risk of flooding markets and diluting the value of human-written work.

For starters, please be aware that, for now, all of the major large language models (LLMs)— generative AI for text—are based on hundreds of thousands or more books and countless articles stolen from pirate websites. This is the largest mass copyright infringement of authors’ works ever, and it was done by some of the richest companies in the world. It is theft—a transfer of wealth from middle-class creators to the coffers of billionaires—and we are fighting against it.

AI companies [need to] do the right thing and license the books and journalism they use to train their AI. Licensing is how copyright works: It enables creators to charge money for the use of their work and insist on certain limits and restrictions (such as preventing competing outputs). It is in all of our professional interests to insist on licensing, compensation, and control and to maintain standards that promote a fair marketplace.

We believe that licensing—not theft—will increasingly become the norm as new companies enter the field or existing ones start licensing; and the new “fairly trained certification”—which the Authors Guild is a supporter of—will allow you to know which LLMs are not infringing. Until then, please consider the harm to the total ecosystem when using generative AI.

Using Generative AI Ethically

Below are our recommended best practices and explanations for using generative AI ethically:

1. Do not use AI to write for you. Use it only as a tool— a paintbrush for writing. It is your writing, thinking, and voice that make you the writer you are. AI-generated text is not your authorship and not your voice. Even if trained on your own work, AI-generated text is simply a regurgitation of what it is trained on and adds nothing new or original to the world. By definition, it is neither original nor art. When you use AI to generate text that you include in a work, you are not writing—you are prompting. Choosing to be a professional prompter is not the same as being a writer, and the output is not authorship or creative. Use AI to support, not replace, the creative process.
2. If you do use AI to develop story lines or character or to generate text, be sure to rewrite it in your own voice before adopting it. If you are claiming authorship, then you should be the author of your work.
3. If you incorporate AI-generated text, characters, or plot in your manuscript, you must disclose it to your publisher as publishing contracts require the authors to represent and warrant that the manuscript is original to the author. AI-generated material is not considered “original” to you and it is not copyrightable. Inclusion of more than a very minimal amount of AI-generated text in the final manuscript will violate your warranty to the publisher. Similarly, an entirely AI-generated plotline or wholesale adoption of AI-generated characters may violate this term of the contract. It is important to know that any expressive elements generated by AI that you incorporate in your work are not protected by copyright and need to be disclaimed in the application for registration. Such material must also be disclaimed in the application for copyright registration, and your publisher needs that information to register the copyright correctly. If you contemplate using AI-generated material in your work (other than minor editorial changes as a result of grammar or spell-checking), you should discuss it with your publisher and see if they will waive the warranty.
4. You should also disclose to the reader whether you incorporated any AI-generated content in the book. They have a right to know as many will feel duped if they are not advised. It is not necessary though to disclose use of generative AI tools like grammar check or when it is employed merely as a tool for brainstorming, idea generation, researching, or for copyediting.
5. Be aware and mindful of publisher and platform-specific policies regarding AI use. Many publishers are developing specific rules around authors’ use of AI, so you should ask your editor if your publisher has any special guidance and carefully review any rules. If you publish a book using KDP, you need to disclose AI use to Amazon. Under current Amazon terms, you need to disclose “AI-generated content (text, images, or translations) when you publish a new book or make edits to and republish an existing book through KDP.” Amazon defines AI-generated content as “text, images, or translations created by an AI-based tool,” and requires disclosure even if the content was substantially edited. Amazon does not require disclosure [for “AI-assisted”] works – when the AI is used as a tool to “edit, refine, error-check, or otherwise improve” content that you created. Amazon is not making these disclosures of AI-generated content public as of the last edit of these guidelines, but we hope they will change this policy in the future.
6. Use the Authors Guild’s Human Authored Certification mark for books that contain no AI-generated text as a way to let readers know it was entirely human written. Readers will appreciate knowing.
7. Respect the rights of other writers when using generative AI technologies, including copyrights, trademarks, and other rights, and do not use generative AI to copy or mimic the unique styles, voices, or other distinctive attributes of other writers’ works in ways that harm the works. (Note: doing so could also be subject to claims of unfair competition or infringement).
8. Thoroughly review and fact-check all content generated by AI systems. As of now, you cannot trust the accuracy of any factual information provided by generative AI. Be aware and check for potential biases in the AI output, be they gender, racial, socioeconomic, or other biases that could perpetuate harmful stereotypes or misinformation.
9. “Fine-tuning” an AI model on your own work to generate new material (e.g. a new book in a series, a new book in their own style) arguably raises fewer ethical concerns since the expression being generated is based on authors’ own work rather than the work of others. (Fine-tuning is the process by which a smaller AI model is created on specific datasets with specific functionalities to work with a foundational LLM.) That being said, the “fine-tuning” is done on top of a foundational large language model that in all likelihood was trained and developed on mass copyright infringement. Further, as an ethical matter, we believe that disclosure of AI use is still warranted when you input your own work to fine-tune AI in order to create something in your own style.
10. Show solidarity with and support professional creators in other fields, including voice actors and narrators, translators, illustrators, etc., as they also need to protect their professions from generative AI uses. If you choose to use AI to generate cover art, illustrations, be mindful of the impact of generative AI on their peers in the creative industries. Many image models are built using unlicensed pictures and artwork, though there are exceptions, such as Adobe Firefly, which use licensed images for training data. Similarly, while many voice models are built on unlicensed recordings, Amazon, Audible and other audiobook platforms are using licensed digital “voice replicas” of actors, ensuring that the narrators get paid. If you are going to use an AI to create cover art or generate an audiobook, it is better to use an AI program or service that uses licensed content, as opposed to one that is built on copyright infringement.
11. Assert your rights in your contract negotiations with publishers and platforms. We have drafted a model clause that authors and agents can use in their negotiations that prohibit the use of an author’s work for training AI technologies without the author’s express permission. Many publishers are agreeing to this restriction, and we hope this will become the industry standard. Keep in mind, however, that this clause is only intended to apply to the use of an author’s work to train AI, not to prohibit publishers from using AI to perform common tasks such as proofing, editing, or generating marketing copy. As expected, publishers are starting to explore using AI as a tool in the usual course of their operations, including editorial and marketing uses, so they may not agree to contractual language disclaiming AI use generally. Those types of internal, operational uses are very different from using the work to train AI that can create similar works or to license the work to an AI company to develop new AI models. The internal, operational uses of AI don’t raise the same concerns of authors’ works being used to create technologies capable of generating competing works.

Debrief on June 21-27 at Community of Writers Poetry Week Conference in Olympic Valley: Part 1

 

The Community of Writers has been gathering in Olympic Valley for over 50 years, offering workshop weeks in Poetry in June and Creative Non-Fiction/Fiction in July. Last week I was fortunate to attend my fourth week at the Poetry Conference over many years, the first time I attended happening back in 2007 I believe. 

The Poetry Program at the Community of Writers is founded on the belief that when poets gather in a community to write new poems, each poet may well break through old habits and write something stronger and truer than before. To help this happen we work together to create an atmosphere in which everyone might feel free to try anything. - Community of Writers

Around 75 poets lived, ate, wrote, and discussed poetry together for the week, our goal being to compose a new and hopefully habit-breaking poem to share in workshop each morning. This program is a little different from other poetry workshops in that we don't share work we've already written and revised and spent time considering. The poems I shared each day were ideas and sounds and words and forms that I had spent much less than 24 hours on, sometimes only 90 minutes of writing. 

It was exhilarating to devote 3 or 4 hours each day, usually in the afternoon after lunch and before our evening craft talks, drafting lines. And then after dinner, returning to the poem-making late into the night or early morning. Sometimes I would sleep on the poem at some point, and shift things around in the morning before I submitted it to workshop.

But what is truly unique at CoW is the workshop style, something we all daily renew our surprise at how well it works to encourage experimentation and generating new work. In workshop, the Faculty poets (Pulitzer prize winners, experts in crafts and history, kind collaborators) guide the group in noting and excavating the places in the poems where wonderful emotion, image, juxtaposition, startling moves, original detail, and creative form build the experience of a poem on the page. Jane Miller calls certain types of openings in a poem "hinges," like in a book where the spine opens, to reveal yet another meaning in the poem. 

Meanings layer on meanings. This past week our poems wrestled with intersecting the poetic with the experience today of illegal and evil violence against our people, our communities, our health, our education, our science, our planet.

I collected a few books by the faculty and here are three books on the craft of writing poetry by Jane Miller, Brenda Hillman (the Director of CoW), and Forrest Gander. I love reading books on craft that reveal the brilliant minds of the author. 

Tangled Roots Writing Summer Writing Series: Workshops for Poetry, Fiction, Memoir

Join Tangled Roots Writing this summer, tinker with your own writing, and build your writing community.

·       Each workshop covers tips for writing in all genres with an opportunity to ask specific questions you have on your own work.

·       The publication workshops cover many aspects of targeting and submitting your work in journals, magazines, newspapers and online as well as how to find and apply for artist residencies, conferences, and contests. Develop your repertoire of work that’s ready for submission.

·       All workshops include snacks and beverages.

·       Location is in the garden and living room of my historic home in downtown Truckee

Call/email for details and to sign up!

Contact: Kat Terrey, MFA, Poet Laureate of Nevada County

530-386-3901

Tangledrootswriting@gmail.com

 

 

Thursday, June 19

Writing beautiful prose for memoir and fiction in the garden – a workshop for anyone writing a book, essays or short stories who wants to strengthen techniques of structure, language and scene. $25

5:30-7:30 pm

 

Monday, June 30

Multi Genre Submissions Garden Party: Target your audience, prepare manuscript for submission, get published. For poetry, short stories, essays, and memoir. $25

5:30-7:30 pm

 

Friday August 15  

Poetry in the Garden – a generative workshop for anyone who wants to understand poetry or write poems and lyrical prose for memoir, essay, and fiction. $25

Noon – 2 pm

 

Friday, August 22 

Multi Genre Submissions Garden Party: Target your audience, prepare manuscript for submission, get published. For poetry, short stories, essays, and memoir. $25

5:30-7:30 pm

A Poetry Workshop for First Graders (SELS) at their Donner Memorial State Park Camp-out

Summer moon over

mountains as white as the tip

of a fox’s tail 

 

- Basho

In my mind, SELS hit another home run with teaching how to be a human.

I headed out to the campground at Donner Memorial State Park last week to meet up with Justine Minczeski's First Grade. She'd reached out to me to teach a poetry workshop to support the work her students have done on endangered animals. Our focus for poems and writing was on the animals the students chose to study: wolverines, bighorn sheep, gray wolves, Sierra Nevada red fox, spotted owls and Lahontan Cutthroat trout.  

"Did you bring a poem you wrote," asked one small student from beneath her pink backpack loaded with jacket, journal, and lunch. She looked up at me with such openness to discovery. I hadn't realized I'd be meeting an insistent audience eager for poetry. I opened on my phone a series of haiku I've written and read her one about a bat. 

"Can I see?" asked two more. A third wandered over to the side and peered into my phone screen. Delightfully, all four children began reading together out loud the poem to the bat, chanting the haiku like a spell or a birthday song:

Hello bat, wings of skin

and bearish ears, your shoulder shrug

is nearly human.

- Karen Terrey

The night before, a Park Ranger led this class on a night hike and activities so that today each student wore a Junior Ranger Badge on their shirt. This is the kind of life-long relationship building with nature and stewardship that Federal funding cuts sabotage, decades into the future.

As we walked towards the lake, we listened and looked and sniffed around us in the park, pretending to be inside the body of whichever animal we wanted to be. One student wrote a poem about a tree they passed that held a hollow for an owl to live. Another wrote about the green water and what might lie beneath it for a trout. A third wrote about a funny moment the night before when a bat chased a mosquito too closely around an adult's head on their night walk.

This poem below by Amy Lowell helped each student to introduce an unanswered question into their poems: 

The Trout   Amy Lowell

          Naughty little speckled trout,

          Can't I coax you to come out?

          Is it such great fun to play

          In the water every day?

 

          Do you pull the Naiads' hair

          Hiding in the lilies there?

          Do you hunt for fishes' eggs,

          Or watch tadpoles grow their legs?

 

          Do the little trouts have school

          In some deep sun-glinted pool,

          And in recess play at tag

          Round that bed of purple flag?

 

          I have tried so hard to catch you,

          Hours and hours I've sat to watch you;

          But you never will come out,

          Naughty little speckled trout!

 

How old are you, Tree? What do you want, Fox? This was a technique that helped them go deeper into their poems and understand that a poem can be an "imagination conversation" with something other than yourself. A poem can become a call, an open-ended wondering. They practiced making their imagination the first tool they picked up to write about these creatures and their homes, places that are also our homes.  

 

Did I mention yet the wonderful and caring attention the chaparoning parents gave these students, guiding them through inevitable challenging moments of hiking, camping, writing and working with others?