# AIL Badges

> Source: <https://danielmiessler.com/blog/ail-badge-examples?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=website>
> Published: 2026-07-31 05:31:26.552528+00:00

[AI Influence Level](/blog/ai-influence-level-ail) has been a text label since 2023. A line at the bottom of a post saying how much of it I wrote and how much the AI did.

Text at the bottom is fine for disclosure. It's bad for glancing. So here's a mark.

Six badges, AIL 0 through AIL 5, one per level. Each links back to the framework.

Two zones. **AIL** is reversed out of a solid ink panel on the left, the way a film certificate card carries its issuing mark. The level and a five-segment rail sit in the tinted field beside it.

The rail is the part that makes it readable without a legend. Five segments, filled to the level. AIL 0 shows five empty ones, which is exactly the claim being made: no AI in it.

The ramp runs muted sage to dusty brick.

I wanted the progression to be obvious and the judgment to be absent. A bright green at 0 would read as a gold star, and a bright red at 5 would read as an accusation. Neither is what this measures. AIL 5 isn't a failing grade. It's a reading.

In the sidebar it sits under the tags at eighteen pixels tall, which is small enough to ignore and large enough to catch:

Add `ail: N`

to a post's frontmatter and the badge appears in the sidebar:

```
---
title: "Some Post"
tags: ai|future
ail: 3
---
```

Or drop one inline anywhere with `<AilBadge level="3" />`

.

The note at the bottom of each post stays where it's always been. The badge is the glance, the note is the explanation, and they say the same thing.
