How we review

1. What the Reviewed seal means

A work meets the Standard when our reviewers find that the creation evidence shows the text and art were made by people, without generative AI producing any part of the finished work. If a creator tells us they used AI for things like spell-check or research, we say so in the listing.

2. Who decides

Our SI reviewer does the first review of every submission. It checks the evidence against this Standard and recommends a decision. A person reads that recommendation and makes the final call on every seal.

3. What SI does

SI sorts files, reads version history, transcribes and samples recordings, points out gaps and inconsistencies, and drafts a recommendation with its reasons. It can ask you for more evidence. It never issues or refuses a seal on its own.

4. Evidence we look at

• Version history from Google Docs or Word
• Photos or scans of drafts and sketches (mailed originals are coming soon)
• Recordings of the creator working (sampled by a reviewer)
• Public work-in-progress posts
• Accounts from witnesses who contacted us

5. Rounds and outcomes

We review in one round, plus an optional second round if we need more information. The second round is free. A work either meets the Standard or doesn't yet. During the pilot, reviews are free.

6. Pre-2022 Publication Records

Generative AI tools for writing and images became widely available in 2022: DALL·E 2 in April, Midjourney in July, Stable Diffusion in August, and ChatGPT in November. A work published before January 1, 2022 was finished before any of them were public, so its publication date is strong evidence that people made it. We don't review these works. We confirm the publication date from a public record, such as the copyright page, an ISBN registration or the Library of Congress, and the creator attests that no generative AI was used. They get their own badge and are never called Reviewed.

7. Concerns and appeals

Reports are private and read by a person. Creators get 14 days to respond and one appeal. A withdrawn seal shows only: "This work's Reviewed seal is no longer active as of [date]."

8. Limits

A seal reflects our reviewers' judgment based on the evidence submitted. It is not a guarantee.