Dubai has introduced the world’s first system to ensure transparency by clearly distinguishing between content created by humans and AI. Announced on July 16 by Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the "Human–Machine Collaboration Icons" system is now being implemented in government research and content projects.
Developed by Dubai Future, the system uses five main icons to represent levels of human-AI collaboration, along with nine subcategories that detail where AI contributed in the process. "Intelligent machines" include generative AI, automation tools, robotics, and algorithms.
The five main icons are as follows:
All human: No machines are used in the creation of the content; all human labor is used.
Human-led: Content created by humans that has been improved, corrected, or enhanced by a machine.
Machine assisted: To create content, humans and machines collaborated iteratively.
Machine-led: The information was created by a machine, and its accuracy and quality were checked by humans.
All machine: No human input was used; all content was created by machines.
The system includes nine functional icons that highlight specific stages of human-AI collaboration, such as ideation, data gathering, analysis, writing, translation, design, and more. Designed to be flexible across sectors and formats—including images and videos—it doesn’t assign exact weights to AI input but promotes transparency while recognizing the role of human judgment.
