Authorship in an Age of Automation

For much of the modern era, authorship has been understood as a distinctly human endeavour—one rooted in judgment, accountability, and intellectual risk. Writing has never been merely the mechanical assembly of words. It has been a process shaped by experience, interpretation, ethical responsibility, and the willingness to stand behind ideas in public. Publishing institutions, despite their commercial pressures, historically reinforced this understanding by treating writing as a professional craft rather than a disposable output. Editors challenged assumptions, publishers tested arguments, and the process of publication itself implied that human judgment stood behind the final text. That shared framework is now under significant pressure.