A new London-based certification program is aiming to help producers around the world easily show buyers and audiences that their films and shows are made without AI, and it’s welcoming kids content creators to submit their projects.

The Human Made Mark initiative, which launched yesterday, provides productions with a watermark and ident (a snippet of footage) that can appear before and after a project and on marketing certifying that the work was made by humans. The team is calling this an industry-first initiative.

For now, the certification is open to live-action and stop-motion-animated projects, with the goal of opening up to other animation techniques in the future. To gain certification, producers will need to submit materials like call sheets, behind-the-scenes photos, credit lists and viewing links, as well as sign a legal declaration.

To get certified, AI cannot be used to replace a human artist in the production process. AI integrated into post-production software, and used in a limited way, is fine. “For example, a colorist might use it as a limited tool in their software, but the colourist has not been replaced in the process,” says William Grave, founder of Human Made Mark. “If a project declared that the script was written by AI, it would not pass verification. …We acknowledge AI is sometimes used as a tool, but our guiding principle is that it must not replace a human artist.”

The cost of certification varies depending on the length of a film or episode, and the team is adjusting pricing depending on whether a project comes from an indie filmmaker or big-budget studio, according to Grave.

Kids and family projects are welcome to reach out for certification, and the team says there’s special value in kids content getting the mark. “We also hope the Human Made Mark sends an important message to younger audiences and future artists that human creativity still matters, and that there is still a bright future ahead of them in film,” says Grave.

The team says it’s received interest from unions, including the actors union Equity, that want to protect their members. And it’s looking to connect with broadcasters, funders and institutions to help keep film “deeply and unapologetically human,” Grave said.

A key element of the certification is that it goes far beyond what companies are doing now. Disclaimers like “no AI was used in this production” have been popping up, but there’s no third-party independent organization to confirm that’s true. The Human Made Mark adds transparency and safeguards to the process, Grave says.

Broadcasters and platforms such as the BBC and Netflix have developed rules governing the use of AI, which limits its use and requires it not to infringe on copyright or replace talent. Studios like 9 Story Media Group/Brown Bag Films, seeing broadcasters adopt such rules, are increasingly developing their own policies, which include rules about transparency, not pitching anything originated by AI tools and making sure third-party contractors don’t use AI without approval.

While a kids platform or broadcaster’s internal review and standards can’t be replaced, certification systems like this could play a helpful role supplementing those efforts, says Brenda Bisner, chief content officer at Kidoodle.TV. And she says efforts like this can have a much larger, industry-wide impact than just indicating which content is made without AI.

“Where these kinds of initiatives may have real value is in creating clearer expectations across the industry,” says Bisner. “If widely adopted and consistently defined, they could help align producers and distributors earlier in the process. For kids content in particular, where trust, safety and intentional user experience design are critical, any tool that increases clarity and accountability in how content is made is worth exploring. But it has to integrate with the platform’s own guiding principles, not as a replacement for them.”

Image courtesy of Human Made Mark. Pictured from left to right is Eric Gruber,  co-founder of Human Made Mark, and William Grave, its founder.