2024
Authorship in the age of synthesis
As creation tools become more powerful, provenance becomes more critical. Thoughts on digital authenticity.
We are entering an era where the act of creation is being redefined. Tools that synthesize, generate, and transform are becoming ubiquitous. This changes the meaning of authorship itself.
The provenance question
When a human and a machine collaborate to create something, who is the author? This isn't a philosophical exercise—it has practical implications for attribution, ownership, and trust.
The answer, I think, is that authorship is shifting from "who made this" to "who is responsible for this." The human who curates, directs, and takes responsibility for the output becomes the author, regardless of how much of the execution was automated.
Why provenance matters more now
Paradoxically, as creation becomes easier, provenance becomes more valuable. When anyone can generate content, the ability to verify origin, intent, and authenticity becomes a differentiator.
This is especially true for:
- Creative work where authenticity is part of the value proposition
- Journalism where source verification is essential
- Legal documents where chain of custody matters
- Scientific research where reproducibility depends on knowing how something was created
Infrastructure for trust
We need new infrastructure for tracking provenance. Not heavy-handed DRM that treats users as adversaries, but lightweight systems that make it easy to understand where things came from.
This infrastructure should be:
Voluntary but valuable. Participation should provide benefits, not just impose costs.
Decentralized. No single authority should control the record of creation.
Privacy-preserving. Provenance can be verified without revealing everything about the creator.
Composable. As works build on other works, provenance should stack naturally.
The human layer
Technology alone won't solve this. We also need new norms around synthesis and creation. What does it mean to cite a generative tool? How do we attribute partial contributions? What disclosures are expected?
These norms are still forming. The builders who help establish them will shape how creation works for generations.
Looking forward
The age of synthesis isn't a threat to human creativity—it's an expansion of it. But it does require us to think carefully about what authorship means and how we preserve the connection between creators and their work.
The infrastructure we build now will determine whether that connection strengthens or dissolves.