A label is a short declaration: who made this, when, and how much of it came from a human versus an AI. That's it.
Disclosure, not judgment.
A Provenance Label makes no claim about quality. It simply answers: what happened here, and who is accountable? Like a nutrition label — informative, not prescriptive.Two formats. Same information. Use whichever fits your context.
A label has four required fields and several optional ones. Required fields make it a valid label. Optional fields add context.
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| author | The human accountable for the content. Not the AI. Not the tool. You. |
| date | Date of completion or publication. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. |
| human | Your percentage of contribution. Must be an integer 0–100. |
| ai | AI's percentage. Must sum to 100 with human. |
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| tools | Which AI tools you used. Comma-separated if multiple. |
| note | One plain sentence describing how you worked together. |
| shared-by | If you're republishing someone else's work, your name goes here. |
| updated | Date of most recent substantive revision. |
| ref | Sources referenced during creation. Repeatable. |
Aim for honest, not perfect. No one is auditing your math. The point is a good-faith estimate of how the work actually came together.
Things to consider: Who initiated the content? Who made the decisions? Who edited, cut, and shaped the final output? What percentage of the final text, code, or image came directly from each contributor?
If you used an AI throughout a session, ask it to calculate at the end — it has context. You review, adjust, and approve. The final number is yours.
Wherever makes sense for your medium. Some common placements:
| Medium | Where | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Blog post | Footer or end of post | Long or short |
| Social post | Inline or as a note | Short |
| GitHub repo | README or .plgen file | Long or raw file |
| Academic paper | Acknowledgments or appendix | Long |
| Artwork | Artist statement or caption | Long |
Submitted labels receive a permanent short ID — for example, PL-000312 — that can be embedded in your content. Anyone can look it up to verify the original, timestamped disclosure.
Self-generated labels are free and unregistered. Registered labels get a permanent ID and public record. The difference is verifiability, not validity.
Full API reference, integration guides, and the open registry endpoint.