# Subtext Studio Attribution Standard

Version 1.0 · August 2026 · CC BY 4.0
Canonical page: https://subtext-studio.com/ai-collaboration
Descended from the Authorship Ledger published as Appendix E of *The Alignment
Paradox* (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21654723), whose portability clause
this standard executes.

## The standard in one paragraph

The Subtext Studio Attribution Standard is a versioned, openly licensed method
for recording where AI contributed to a specific piece of work, to what
extent, which system was used, and which parts remained human-only. Each
disclosure travels with the work as a Contribution Ledger.

## The line

The line is between collaboration and production. Two terms, used precisely:

- **AI-supported / AI-facilitated / AI-informed** — a system contributed to a
  phase of the work. The output was reasoned with, argued against, rewritten;
  what reaches the page was written by a person. Phase and extent are recorded
  in the ledger attached to the work.
- **AI-generated** — a system produced material that reaches the deliverable
  substantially as produced. Not released under the adopter's own authorship;
  if retained in any capacity it is labelled at the point of use and named in
  the ledger.

The two are not interchangeable; the softer term never describes the harder
case.

## Ledger classes

Three depths; each holds the one beneath it.

- **CL-1 · Label** — a short block on the finished work: phases involved,
  extent, exclusions, systems used. The default for most deliverables.
- **CL-2 · Map** — contribution recorded section by section, without voice
  attribution. For substantial co-produced work where a single label would
  flatten real variation.
- **CL-3 · Authorship Ledger** — the full instrument: voice categories and
  markers, role rotation, authorship distribution, attribution methodology
  and audit hooks. For genuine co-authorship. First published as Appendix E
  of *The Alignment Paradox*.

## Extent grades

Ordered by how far a contribution got toward the finished thing:

- **Consulted** — asked, and the answer stayed outside. It shifted the
  thinking; none of it travelled into the work.
- **Assisted** — the output informed the work and was rewritten out of it.
  Nothing produced survives into the deliverable.
- **Co-produced** — produced material is in the deliverable, marked where it
  sits.

## CL-1 template

    Contribution Ledger · CL-1 · Subtext Studio Attribution Standard v1.0

    Work          [title, version, date]
    Human only    [what the help never came near]
    AI-assisted   [phase] · [extent]
                  [phase] · [extent]
    Systems       [model and version] · [period]
    Ledger class  CL-1. Fuller record available on request.
    Disputes      [contact]

A ledger with nothing in the AI-assisted rows still gets published: a
deliverable no system touched is a fact worth recording in the same place and
format as one that had help.

## Scope

- **Published work under the adopter's own name** — always, and public.
- **Client work** — always produced; published at the client's discretion.
- **Internal and ephemeral material** — no ledger. Nothing that never leaves
  the room.

## Placement

- Documents: end matter, ahead of references.
- Web pages: footer of the page the ledger describes.
- Repositories: `LEDGER.md` at the root.
- Slides and talks: final slide; in the speaker notes too, if the deck
  travels.

## Versioning rules

Every ledger names the version of the standard it was written against.
Changes to the standard are versioned and dated on the canonical page;
earlier ledgers are never rewritten to match a later version. Every row
should survive being read alone.

## Licence

Published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Take it, change it, cite
it: Subtext Studio Attribution Standard v1.0, August 2026,
https://subtext-studio.com/ai-collaboration