# Who Owns the Text? Design Patterns for Preserving Authorship in AI-Assisted Writing

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10236 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10236/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 21 of its 52 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [CoAuthor: Designing a Human-AI Collaborative Writing Dataset for Exploring Language Model Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.06796/) (2022)
- [Does Writing with Language Models Reduce Content Diversity?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.05196/) (2023)
- [Co-Writing Screenplays and Theatre Scripts with Language Models: An Evaluation by Industry Professionals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14958/) (2022)
- [Co-Writing with Opinionated Language Models Affects Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00560/) (2023)
- [A Design Space for Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14117/) (2024)
- [Human-AI Collaboration via Conditional Delegation: A Case Study of Content Moderation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11788/) (2022)
- [The Impact of Multiple Parallel Phrase Suggestions on Email Input and Composition Behaviour of Native and Non-Native English Writers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.09157/) (2021)
- [How should my chatbot interact? A survey on human-chatbot interaction design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02743/) (2019)
- [Shaping Human-AI Collaboration: Varied Scaffolding Levels in Co-writing with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11723/) (2024)
- [The Value, Benefits, and Concerns of Generative AI-Powered Assistance in Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12004/) (2024)
- [Writer-Defined AI Personas for On-Demand Feedback Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10433/) (2023)
- [Interacting with next-phrase suggestions: How suggestion systems aid and influence the cognitive processes of writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00636/) (2022)
- [The HaLLMark Effect: Supporting Provenance and Transparent Use of Large Language Models in Writing with Interactive Visualization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.13057/) (2023)
- [The AI Ghostwriter Effect: When Users Do Not Perceive Ownership of AI-Generated Text But Self-Declare as Authors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03283/) (2023)
- [The Role of Inclusion, Control, and Ownership in Workplace AI-Mediated Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.11599/) (2023)
- [Which Contributions Deserve Credit? Perceptions of Attribution in Human-AI Co-Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18357/) (2025)
- [Collage is the New Writing: Exploring the Fragmentation of Text and User Interfaces in AI Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17217/) (2024)
- [Making the Write Connections: Linking Writing Support Tools with Writer's Needs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.13320/) (2025)
- [Writing with AI Lowers Psychological Ownership, but Longer Prompts Can Help](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03108/) (2024)
- [Creative Writers' Attitudes on Writing as Training Data for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14281/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Can Good Writing Be Generative? Expert-Level AI Writing Emerges through Fine-Tuning on High-Quality Books](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.18353/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

AI writing assistants can reduce effort and improve fluency, but they may also weaken writers' sense of authorship. We study this tension with an ownership-aware co-writing editor that offers on-demand, sentence-level suggestions and tests two common design choices: persona-based coaching and style personalization. In an online study (N=176), participants completed three professional writing tasks: an email without AI help, a proposal with generic AI suggestions, and a cover letter with persona-based coaching, while half received suggestions tailored to a brief sample of their prior writing. Across the two AI-assisted tasks, psychological ownership dropped relative to unassisted writing (about 0.85-1.0 points on a 7-point scale), even as cognitive load decreased (about 0.9 points) and quality ratings stayed broadly similar overall. Persona coaching did not prevent the ownership decline. Style personalization partially restored ownership (about +0.43) and increased AI incorporation in text (+5 percentage points). We distill five design patterns: on-demand initiation, micro-suggestions, voice anchoring, audience scaffolds, and point-of-decision provenance, to guide authorship-preserving writing tools.