In an insightful interview with
Website Planet, Allen Hsu delves into his mission to preserve human creativity through the “Not By AI” initiative.
By introducing the “Not By AI” badges, Hsu aims to emphasize the value of authentically human-crafted content and mitigate the risks of stagnation caused by over-reliance on AI. The initiative’s “90% Rule” encourages creators to use AI as a supportive tool without compromising originality, ensuring that innovation and progress remain at the forefront of content creation.
As shared with Website Planet, this movement not only highlights the importance of authenticity but also inspires a global conversation about the future of creativity in the AI era.
What motivated you to create the ‘Not By AI’ badges, and how do you envision them impacting the landscape of content creation?
Saving the world! As ambitious as it sounds, it is exactly what we are trying to do.
Our mission centers around addressing how AI generates “new” content by reusing pre-existing human-created content which leads to a cycle of declining quality (think royal inbreeding). This impact can be mitigated if humans continue to produce original content without heavily relying on AI. On the other hand, if humans give up on authentic content creation in favor of AI dependency, we risk losing out on truly “new ideas” and slowing the advancement of our civilization.
Imagine if we had relied on AI to produce content 100 years ago. We would likely not have made the same progress we have achieved today in equality, justice, human rights, and some of humanity’s greatest achievements in art. We, as a species, should continue to move forward—developing new ideologies, engaging in debates, enduring growing pains, and fostering advancements—rather than becoming stagnant through overly relying on AI.
Not By AI takes a stand for creation authenticity, encouraging humans to produce original content that advances humanity.
Can you elaborate on the ‘Not By AI 90% Rule’ and its significance in promoting human-generated content?
Sure thing. We are Not By AI, not anti-AI. We believe AI is a tool that can accelerate progress—as long as we use it right. The ‘Not By AI 90% Rule’ is our attempt to define what a human can and cannot use AI for to ensure we continue to put thought and authenticity into our content while reserving AI for tasks that do not compromise originality.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the ‘Not By AI 90% Rule’, it states that, as of the date this content is written, if you estimate that at least 90% of your content is created by humans, you are eligible to add the Not By AI badges into your content. The 90% can include using AI for inspiration purposes, supporting legal documents such as privacy policies (assuming that legal is not the main focus of your content or service), non-user-facing content such as SEO meta tags or code, to look for grammatical errors and typos, and to translate content.
We acknowledge that the rule may not be flawless but we are committed to continuously improving it. That said, to our surprise, many of our paid users have chosen not to use AI at all despite the rule allowing certain uses of AI. It shows a strong commitment to our creative community and encourages us to continue to fight for content authenticity.
How do you address the challenge of distinguishing between AI-assisted and fully human-created content when users apply the badge?
Since there is currently no reliable way to distinguish between AI-assisted and fully human-created content, instead of vetting user content, we ask free users to pledge to content authenticity and make sure our paid users upload proof of their human creation process, such as hand-drawn drafts, Photoshop layers, and mood boards, to show their users how they came up with their original content.
Every user is accountable for following the Not By AI 90% Rule. While we are open to adopting a stricter content review process in the future, we currently are a platform for users who proactively want to showcase their human-driven creative process. As Not By AI continues to grow, it becomes clear that there is a need for a simple and effective way—like a badge—to represent content authenticity, and that’s exactly what we aim to provide.
Could you share any success stories or feedback from creators who have adopted the ‘Not By AI’ badge in their work?
Of course! Our website immediately went viral on Hacker News when it first launched. Since then, we have been receiving lots of positive feedback and suggestions. In fact, we now have offered our badges in over 30 languages solely thanks to users who proactively submitted translations.
We are also improving our services by actively listening to our users. One example is the recent rise of AI music. We started to receive requests to help musicians better express their human-first approach. Initially, we offered an overarching badge for all musicians—the Producer badge. However, after hearing concerns about AI-generated music and working directly with our musician users, we introduced new badges to more accurately describe how music is created without significant AI involvement. For example, we now offer badges tailored to different roles, such as the Composer badge, the Singer badge, and the Arranger badge, to reinforce the authenticity and accuracy of human-driven music creation.
In what ways do you foresee the ‘Not By AI’ initiative influencing the future of AI integration in creative industries?
This is a tough question because creativity is a product of human expression, meaning it extends beyond a few industries and, in fact, defines who we are as a species. By raising awareness of the repetition and stagnation issues that AI can cause in the creative process, we aim to foster greater appreciation for human-created content.
We can’t fight this battle alone. We need the governments to be involved to systematically address the challenges. This includes educating people about how AI works so they understand its risks and blind spots, reviewing crucial content, such as scientific papers, to make sure they do not contain AI-hallucinated content, and investing resources to support humans in creating content that drives innovation and advancement beyond what AI can achieve by repurposing existing content.
A great example of why government involvement is necessary is Microsoft’s release of Tay, an AI chatbot on X (previously Twitter), back in 2016. Tay immediately turned into a racist and sexist because it learned from human chat interactions, reflecting the biases of that time. It demonstrates how AI needs to not only be fine-tuned by private companies and potentially pass government-level evaluations before launching but also that governments should carefully establish limits on its use. As we learned from Tay, AI mirrors human ideological trends rather than advancing them, which is why we need oversight to protect creativity and progress in the creative industries.
What strategies are in place to ensure the credibility and widespread adoption of the ‘Not By AI’ badges among content creators?
We are improving the overall user experience as good service leads to widespread adoption. This includes enhancing the platform, localizing the websites for the global audience, exploring ways to help with physical badging knowing many types of content exist beyond the digital realm, and more.
Additionally, as AI-generated content becomes dominant, human-created content will be increasingly rare. This scarcity will motivate content creators who believe in the human-first approach to upload more assets showing their human creative process to Not By AI which will naturally further reinforce the badge’s credibility.
We expect the tipping point where the value of human-created content gains widespread recognition will soon arrive if it hasn’t already. It will not only draw greater attention to Not By AI but also to the broader issue of content authenticity—a critical challenge in today’s creative landscape.
Find out more at:
www.notbyai.fyi
