// AUTHORITY: VALID · ACTION: WITHIN_SCOPE
The problem
The internet can no longer assume there is a human on the other side.
Almost every digital trust mechanism was built on one assumption: behind meaningful activity is a human being. Generative AI, autonomous agents, deepfakes and remote-control tools are breaking it.
Authentication tells you who can access the account. Proof of Actor helps establish who or what is actually acting.
The Actor model
Four kinds of actors. One trust layer.
Proof of Actor does not treat every automated interaction as malicious. The goal is transparency and accountability: make agency explicit, then let each application decide what it accepts.
HUMAN
A human appears to be directly controlling the interaction.
A candidate completes an assessment personally without meaningful external AI assistance.
HUMAN + AI
A human remains responsible for the interaction, but AI materially assists.
A professional writes an email while using an AI writing assistant. Depending on context, entirely acceptable.
AUTHORISED AGENT
An AI agent performs the interaction on behalf of an identified human or organisation, within delegated authority.
A shopping agent authorised by its user purchases a flight within a specified budget.
UNVERIFIED ACTOR
The service cannot establish the actor, human control or accountable principal with sufficient confidence.
This does not automatically mean malicious. It means: trust relationship unknown.
Proof of Actor provides the evidence. The relying service decides the policy. See how trust is contextual
The trust stack
Trust requires more than identity.
Identity answers who owns an account. A consequential interaction can raise ten separate questions, from whether a human exists at all to who is ultimately accountable. Proof of Actor is designed to reason across all of them.
- 01
Personhood
Is there evidence that a real human exists behind this interaction?
- 02
Identity
Is this human the person they claim to be?
- 03
Presence
Is the human actually present during this interaction?
- 04
Actor continuity
Is the same actor continuing throughout the session?
- 05
Human control
Is the human actually controlling the interaction?
- 06
AI participation
Is AI materially participating in the interaction?
- 07
Delegation
If an AI agent is acting, who authorised it?
- 08
Scope of authority
What is this actor allowed to do?
- 09
Intent
Did the human explicitly approve this action, at this time, under these conditions?
- 10
Accountability
Who ultimately stands behind this action?
Verification primitives
Verify what your application actually needs.
Three primitives, requested independently or together, each answering one clear question.
API Preview
One API. Contextual trust.
An application states what it requires and receives an Actor Attestation: evidence with confidence, not a black-box verdict. The output is the same shape whether the actor is a person, a person with AI, or an agent.
// Proposed API - illustrative only
GET /v1/verifications/ver_7Qx2
{
"actor_type": "human",
"confidence": 0.97,
"human_presence": "verified",
"human_control": 0.94,
"ai_participation": "low",
"continuity": 0.99
}ACTOR TRUST RECEIPT
Illustrative- Actor
- Human
- Personhood
- Verified
- Identity
- Verified privately
- Presence
- Continuous
- Human control
- High confidence
- AI involvement
- Low
- Session continuity
- High confidence
Use cases
Built for a mixed human + agent internet.
Wherever a service needs to know who or what is acting before it relies on an interaction.
Privacy
Privacy should be part of the protocol.
A forum may need to know it is talking to a unique real human. It does not need a full name, date of birth and passport number. Proof of Actor is designed for selective, minimal attestations.
Prove what matters without revealing what doesn't.
Research
Essays on Actor Trust
The thinking behind the category, published in English.
Help build the Actor Trust Layer.
We are looking for developers and design partners with real interactions they struggle to trust. Tell us what you need to verify.
Proof of Actor is a proposed trust infrastructure for determining whether a digital interaction is being performed by a human, a human using AI, or an autonomous AI agent, and for establishing who authorised the action. Category: Actor Trust Infrastructure. Core primitives: Proof of Human, Proof of Control and Proof of Authority. Output: the Actor Attestation.