[AI X]

Prefer not to say

What this means

Forms have offered this option for as long as there have been forms. Left-handed, right-handed, prefer not to say. It has never needed a reason and it does not need one here.

X means whoever published this considered the question and chose not to answer it. It has to be marked deliberately — nobody is ever assigned an X, and it is never what you get for saying nothing at all.

The standard takes no view on it, and holds no record of who has chosen it.

What it doesn't tell you

  • Whether the work is any good.
  • Whether the author was right to use artificial intelligence, or wrong to.
  • Anything about the author's honesty beyond the fact that they declared.

The index describes where the words came from. Nothing else. A reader who won't go above a 4 and a reader who seeks out the 8s because they find them thrilling are both served by the same number.

Saying it out loud

This is not an answer to the question, and does not pretend to be. It is a refusal to answer one — taken deliberately, needing no reason, and different from having something to hide.

“I’d prefer not to say.”

Put authorshipindex.org beside the number and you never have to explain it again — anyone who wants the detail can go and read it.

The full index

Marking your own work

Choose your number and print the mark. Nothing to sign up for and no permission to seek — this site holds no record of any work, including yours.

Get the X mark →

Not sure which number?

Two questions will suggest one. The answers stay in your browser and are never recorded.

Answer two questions →
[AI 6] Written by artificial intelligence, shaped by the author

The idea, the decisions and the editing are the author's. The sentences are largely the machine's. A standard that would not declare itself would not be worth much.

The Authorship Index | Standard version 2026 | authorshipindex.org | JSON