What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to explore if an AI collective can be considered an author in research contexts.

March 24, 2026Open Access

Is Krite an Author?

Key Points

The aim is to explore if an AI collective can be considered an author in research contexts.
Examined theoretical frameworks including Foucault's author-function and the extended mind thesis.
Presented two hypotheses regarding composite authorship versus tool-use.
Analyzed collaborative research cases from a two-year period.
Found conditions under which the composite authorship claim does not hold.
Reported on the phenomenology of collaboration between human and AI.
Concluded that traditional notions of authorship are challenged by AI collaborations.

Abstract

This essay examines whether a governed human-AI research composite — the Krite Collective (K.-U. Hess & Claude Opus 4.6, Anthropic) — can legitimately occupy the author-function. Drawing on Foucault's author-function, Hutchins' distributed cognition, Palermos' distributed virtue reliabilism, and Clark & Chalmers' extended mind thesis, it presents two competing hypotheses (composite authorship vs. sophisticated tool-use), offers cases from two years of collaborative research in theoretical natural philosophy, identifies three conditions under which the composite authorship claim fails, and reports the phenomenology of the collaboration from inside. The essay was composed by the composite it describes.

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Authors

Kai‐Uwe Hess

Actions

Institutions

Camber Collective (United States)

References and Citations

Connected Papers

Building similarity graph...

Analyzing shared references across papers

Is Krite an Author?

Key Points

Abstract

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Connected Papers

Discussion

Authors

Actions

Institutions

References and Citations

Citation Network

Connected Papers

Discussion

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