AI is changing how creative work is consumed, transformed, and distributed. For authors, the next question isn’t just whether AI has used their work. It’s what they can do about it.
For the past few years, much of the conversation around AI and publishing has been reactive.
Was my book used to train an AI model?
Was my audiobook copied?
Is someone using my characters or story to create something new?
Those questions matter. But they all start after something has already happened.
Authors and publishers have an opportunity to change that by becoming more proactive about rights, consent, provenance, monitoring, licensing, and enforcement.
The goal isn’t necessarily to stop AI. It’s to make sure creators have a say in how their work is used.
The Rules Are Still Being Written
Books have already become part of the larger debate over how copyrighted material can be used to develop AI models. And courts are still working through where the boundaries should be.
One of the biggest cases currently moving through the courts is the litigation brought by the Authors Guild and other authors against OpenAI and Microsoft. In September 2026, the authors filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the companies infringed their copyrights by copying books to train AI models. OpenAI and Microsoft have filed their own motions, and the case remains unresolved.
The case is another reminder that there is no single, settled answer to every question surrounding AI and copyrighted work.
The rules are being written right now.
Authors don’t have to wait for every legal question to be settled before taking steps to protect their work.
What Authors Can Do Moving Forward
1. Know What You Own
Authors should have a clear picture of what rights they control and what they’ve licensed.
That includes manuscripts, ebooks, audiobooks, excerpts, characters, illustrations, adaptations, and other creative assets.
As AI creates new ways for content to be reused, understanding what you’ve granted, to whom, and for what purpose becomes even more important.
2. Make Your Position on AI Explicit
AI-related rights should become part of publishing and licensing conversations.
Where possible, authors should consider questions like:
- Can the work be used to train an AI model?
- Can excerpts be submitted to AI systems?
- Can the work be transformed into AI-generated content?
- What uses require permission or a separate license?
Not every author will have the power to dictate every contract term. But recognizing these questions is an important first step.
3. Create a Digital Paper Trail
Keep records showing when your work was created and published, who has licensed it, what uses were authorized, and what rights remain with you or your publisher.
This documentation can become critical when an unauthorized use appears.
The question isn’t just “Can we make them stop?”
It’s also “Can we establish exactly what happened?”
4. Monitor Where Your Work Appears
You can’t act on unauthorized use you don’t know about.
Authors and publishers can monitor for unauthorized copies, excerpts, audiobooks, and other uses across the digital ecosystem.
As the volume of content grows, doing this manually becomes increasingly difficult.
The goal isn’t to constantly police the internet. It’s to create visibility.
5. Document and Act
When potential infringement is identified, have a consistent process for recording where it appeared, when it was discovered, what content was involved, and what action was taken.
That could mean a takedown, further investigation, continued monitoring, or even a licensing conversation.
The important thing is that the rights holder is making the decision rather than discovering the use long after the fact.
From Takedowns to Attribution
Proactive rights management isn’t only about stopping unauthorized use.
If AI companies want access to valuable creative work, authors and publishers can push for clearer models based on permission and licensing.
That means establishing rules around what content can be accessed, how it can be used, whether creators are compensated, and what happens when permission ends.
The choice doesn’t have to be to allow everything or prohibit everything.
There is another option:
Create clear rules for legitimate use.
Where TraceID Fits
This is where Vermillio TraceID comes in.
TraceID is built around the idea that creators should be able to protect their IP, establish guardrails around its use, and receive attribution when their work contributes to AI-generated content.
Protection means visibility. TraceID can monitor content across the digital ecosystem, identify potential unauthorized use, and support actions such as takedowns.
Guardrails mean control. Rights holders can define terms and usage preferences for their IP, creating clearer rules around what can and cannot be done with their work. Vermillio’s current guardrails infrastructure is designed to carry creator-defined rights into AI platforms.
Attribution means credit. When creative work contributes to AI-generated content, attribution helps connect that work back to the creators and rights holders behind it. Vermillio describes attribution as a core part of its approach to ensuring proper credit and compensation reach rightful owners.
It’s a shift from simply asking:
“Was my work used?”
to asking:
“Was it protected? Were there guardrails? And will I get credit when it’s used?”
Writers Should Help Write the Rules
Authors can’t control how quickly AI develops or how every legal question will be resolved.
But they can control how prepared they are.
They can understand their rights, make their position on AI clearer, document their work, monitor where it appears, and advocate for licensing models that recognize the value of human-created content.
That’s what moving from defense to offense means.
Writers shouldn’t just defend their work in the AI era. They should have a say in writing the rules.
The future of publishing doesn’t have to be anti-AI.
It can be pro-author, pro-rights, and pro-choice.
Vermillio’s TraceID can help make that shift possible by giving publishers and rights holders greater visibility into where their content appears and helping them take a more proactive approach to protecting creative work at scale.