PLATFORM TROUBLESHOOTING — AMAZON KDP
KDP's AI Disclosure Rules — What You Actually Have to Declare (And What You Don't)
Amazon's AI disclosure requirement has been in place since 2023 and enforcement increased sharply through 2025 and 2026. Most authors are confused about what counts. This guide cuts through the confusion with clear, current answers.
Difficulty: Beginner-friendly
Time to Fix: 5–10 minutes to complete the disclosure; ongoing compliance awareness
Platforms Affected: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing — all book formats
Best For: Any author who uses AI tools in any part of their writing process and wants to understand exactly what they must disclose to KDP — and what's safely out of scope.
The One-Line Rule — And Why It's More Nuanced Than It Sounds
Amazon KDP requires disclosure when AI tools generate substantive content that appears in the final published book. That sounds simple, but in practice the boundary between 'AI-generated' and 'AI-assisted' trips up a lot of authors. Getting it wrong in either direction has consequences: under-disclosing risks book removal and account suspension; over-anxious authors sometimes worry about disclosing things that don't require it.
🚨 IMPORTANT: As of April 2026, Amazon began enforcement sweeps targeting titles where automated AI detection flags potential non-disclosure. Books found with undisclosed AI-generated text, images, or translations can be removed without warning. Retroactive review of existing catalogs is also occurring — meaning older books are being flagged.
What You MUST Disclose
AI-Generated Text
If an AI tool wrote any portion of the text that appears in your finished book — even if you edited it substantially afterwards — you must check the disclosure box in KDP. This includes chapters, scenes, dialogue, or any other prose generated by tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar.
AI-Generated Images
Cover art, interior illustrations, or any images in your book that were produced by AI image tools (Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly) require disclosure. This applies whether the image appears on the cover or inside the book.
AI-Generated Translations
If you used an AI translation tool (DeepL, Google Translate, ChatGPT) to produce a translated edition of your book, disclosure is required even if a human reviewed and edited the output afterwards.
📋 NOTE: The disclosure checkbox in KDP is not visible to readers on your book's product page. It goes to Amazon's internal records only. It does not affect your royalty rate, your pricing options, your search ranking, or your category eligibility. Disclosing will not hurt your book.
What You Do NOT Need to Disclose
Amazon draws a clear line between AI-generated content and AI-assisted content. The following uses do not require disclosure:
Using AI for brainstorming, outlining, or plotting (when you then write the actual content yourself)
Grammar and spelling checkers — including AI-enhanced tools like Grammarly or ProWritingAid
Using AI to improve or polish prose that you wrote (light editing assistance)
AI-generated marketing copy — your book description, ad copy, social media posts (these are not in the book itself)
Using AI to research topics that you then write about in your own words
Using AI to generate a few lines of dialogue that you substantially rewrote
💡 TIP: The test Amazon applies: did AI produce substantive content that is present in the final book, substantially unchanged? If yes, disclose. If you wrote it and AI helped you polish it, no disclosure needed. If AI wrote it and you polished it, disclose.
How to Complete the Disclosure in KDP
The disclosure is a checkbox in the KDP publishing workflow — it appears on the 'Content' page during new book setup, and you can update it for existing titles at any time.
Log into your KDP dashboard at kdp.amazon.com
For a new book: proceed through setup to the Content page and look for 'AI-generated content' checkbox
For an existing book: click your book title > Edit eBook Content (or Print Content) > scroll to the AI disclosure section
Check the box if your book contains AI-generated text, images, or translations
Save and continue — no additional explanation is required by Amazon
If you are uncertain whether your specific use case requires disclosure, Amazon's policy guidance states: 'When in doubt, disclose.' The consequences of under-disclosing are severe; the consequences of disclosing when not strictly required are none.
The Backlist Audit — If You Published Before 2024
If you published books before the disclosure requirement became actively enforced (late 2023 onward), and any of those books contain AI-generated content, you should update the disclosure status proactively. Amazon's April 2026 enforcement sweep specifically targeted older titles flagged by automated detection.
Work through your catalog systematically: for each title, identify whether AI-generated content is present, update the disclosure status in KDP, and keep a simple record (a spreadsheet with book title, ASIN, disclosure status, and date updated). If Amazon contacts you about a title, this documentation demonstrates good faith.
⚠️ WARNING: Retroactive enforcement is real. Authors who received account flags in the April 2026 sweep reported books published in 2023 being reviewed. If you have AI-generated content in older titles and haven't disclosed it, update those records now rather than waiting for Amazon to find them.
How ScribeCount Helps
KDP account health directly affects ScribeCount's data pipeline — if your KDP account is suspended or books are removed due to policy violations, that disrupts the sales and royalty data ScribeCount pulls. Keeping your disclosure status current and your account in good standing ensures uninterrupted reporting across all your KDP titles.
-Randall Wood