AIL Badges

Simon Willison's Weblog introduced AIL badges, a visual indicator of AI influence levels on blog posts, complementing the text-based AI Influence Level framework established in 2023. The badges, ranging from AIL 0 to AIL 5, feature a five-segment rail and are designed to be glanceable, with each badge linking to the framework. The system allows authors to add an 'ail' field to post frontmatter or use a component to display the badge in the sidebar.

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.