AI Transparency for Authors

AI transparency for authors is the subject of this video for writers who use AI or editing tools in a book. The full transcription and questions and answers follow the video.

This video first went up on YouTube on March 27, 2025. The written post was added on October 24, 2026.

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Table of Contents

What Is AI Transparency for Authors?

AI transparency for authors can mean saying how you used AI in your book, on your website, on the back cover and in your press materials. If admitting it feels uncomfortable, then maybe you are not the only writer of that book, in Loren Weisman’s view.

AI can help authors, and the question may be whether you are allowing yourself to be an author or a prompter.
If you would not put your AI use in a press release, media sheet or website, it may be that you are not the only writer.
Stating how the book was done on the back cover, media sheet, interview information sheets, promos and one sheets can keep it transparent.
Listing your editing tools and how you checked your work may not take away from your authority and your story.
Being open about AI use might bring a book a little more PR and help it stand out.

AI Transparency for Authors: The Full Transcription

A Challenge to Authors Using AI

I have a challenge for authors or potential authors that are using AI in some form. My name is Loren Weisman, a brand communications and optics strategist, and my challenge to you, specifically the authors, is: be transparent.

Admit how you use AI, and do so on your website and on the back cover of that book that you’re writing. And if you can’t do that, and that makes you feel uncomfortable, and that’s not something you would put inside of a press release, a media sheet, your website, wherever, then maybe you’re not the only writer all too often.

Help From Editors, Proofreaders and AI

And don’t get me wrong, I’ve written three books. I’ve had help. I had an editor, I had a tech editor, I had a proofreader. I had, you know, the whole gamut, the graphic.

There were people that helped. And in a way, AI can absolutely help authors. But are they allowing it to be an author, or are you allowing yourself to be an author or a prompter?

Writing a Book From a Few Prompts

Are you someone that I’ve come up with these five prompts because I watched this little seminar saying how to write a book in a day? Just prompt this, prompt that, I’ll throw this one idea.

Here’s how I’ll break it out. And would you admit to being a prompter? Would you happily sign or have a little business card saying, “I’m a prompter”? Here are my books.

I put in these seven prompts, ran through it a little bit, ran an editor, put it through Grammarly, and popped out a book, which many are doing. And it’s not saying that it’s a good thing.

Saying How You Did It

I’m not, for that matter, going to say it’s a bad thing. I’m not here to judge. But if you’re being true, if you’re being transparent, if you want to be honest with your audience, with whatever you’re writing your book for, then be honest with it. Be truthful.

Be prepared to write on the back of that cover, on your media sheet, on your interview information sheets, on the promos, on the one sheets: “This is how I did it, and this is how I used it.” And in that, it might bring just a little bit more PR, a little bit more promotion, and help you stand out in a day where so many people have gone to this lax, lazy, faking it, and in a sense, lying to use someone else to write for them or, for this matter, something else.

Being an Author, Not a Prompter

Consider the transparency. Be an author, not a prompter. Be someone that actually wrote it. And yes, you know, here’s the editing tools I used.

Here’s how I did this. Here’s what I checked with this. Here’s how I did that. That still doesn’t take away from your authority and your story.

Taking the Right Stand

And you created, and you just had someone help or something help, as opposed to the lies, the deceptions, and the false just propped up. The false prophet hype of “you can be an author in five minutes.” Take the right stand even when others aren’t.

Stand on the solid foundation, even when others aren’t. Be truthful, and in that, it may bring your book and the PR around your book to a whole different level.

AI and Authorship in My Talks

A two minute prompt does not make anyone an author. Where is the line between using artificial intelligence as a tool and using it to fake authority?

Questions and Answers

Why would an author disclose how they used AI to write a book?

Disclosing AI use can keep an author truthful and transparent with readers and with whatever audience the book is written for. It might also bring a little more PR and promotion and help a book stand out.

Is it wrong to use AI to write a book?

Using AI to write a book may not be a matter of good or bad, and judging is not the point. The focus can be transparency, asking authors who used AI to say how they used it.

What is the difference between an author and a prompter?

An author can write the story and may have help from editors, proofreaders or tools. A prompter may put in a handful of prompts, run the result through an editor or Grammarly and pop out a book, and the question may be whether a writer would happily call themselves a prompter.

Where can authors disclose how they used AI?

Authors can disclose how they used AI on the back cover of the book, their website, the media sheet, interview information sheets, promos, one sheets and press releases. The statement can be a plain one: this is how I did it, and this is how I used it.

Does admitting AI or editing help hurt an author’s credibility?

Admitting editing help or AI use may not take away from an author’s authority and story. Each of the three books Loren Weisman mentions in this video had an editor, a tech editor and a proofreader, and an author who had help can still be the one who created the work.

AI Transparency for Authors: Author or Prompter?