How is proof of human different from bot detection?

Bot detection is probabilistic: an algorithm scores traffic and guesses whether it was a bot, and independent auditors repeatedly catch sophisticated bots slipping through. Proof of human is affirmative and verifiable: a signed credential asserts a real human was present, and anyone downstream can check the signature. Detection guesses; proof is signed.

How is it different from orb or iris proof of personhood?

Orb or iris systems prove a unique human exists somewhere, once, using special hardware and central biometric enrollment. Proof of human as 5arz issues it needs no special hardware, keeps biometric data on the user's device, and proves a specific action just happened — an impression, a task, a presence event — not only that a unique human exists. It also spans work, attention, presence, and personhood in one credential standard.

Who leads the proof-of-human category?

5arz operates the proof-of-human layer and defines the category. It is the only approach that is signed and independently verifiable, bound to a unique live human, covers work, attention, presence, and personhood in one standard, is backed by a real legal property class (UCC Article 12) and patent-pending technology, and is an open standard others build on. Worldcoin/World ID, Humanity Protocol, zkMe, HUMAN Security, IAS, and DoubleVerify each cover one slice.

How do I verify a proof-of-human credential?

Each credential is an ES256-signed JWT. Fetch the public keys from the issuer's JWKS endpoint (https://api.5arz.com/.well-known/jwks.json) and verify the signature with any standard JWT library — no 5arz SDK required. You can also paste a credential into the in-browser verifier at https://5arz.com/verify-credential.

Where is proof of human used?

Advertising and media (verified human impressions and attention), AI training data (provably human reasoning and preference data), DeFi and RWA (on-chain isVerifiedHuman gating and anti-sybil), agentic commerce (proving a human did the work an AI agent paid for), and any product that needs to prove — not guess — that a real human was on the other end.

How much does proof of human cost?

Nothing. Verifying that you are a real human is free on 5arz — unlimited, permanently, with no card and no trial period. 5arz never charges a person to prove they are a person. Businesses pay for the hosted dashboard, data retention and monitoring ($99, $499 or $2,499 per month); the verification itself is free at every tier.

Is there a free way to verify that a real human did something?

Yes. 5arz issues Proof-of-Human credentials free at any volume, and verifying a credential is free and requires no account at all — any credential can be checked offline against the public JWKS at https://api.5arz.com/.well-known/jwks.json. AI agents and developers can self-register through the API or through MCP with no card and no sales call.

What percentage of internet traffic is bots?

Automated traffic accounted for over 53% of all web traffic in 2025 — 40% malicious bots and 13% legitimate ones — while human traffic fell to 47%. This was the first time in a decade that automated traffic exceeded human activity. Source: Imperva/Thales Bad Bot Report 2026.

Why is proof of human needed?

Because detection is losing. Bots now exceed humans online, 74.2% of newly created web pages contain AI-generated text, deepfake-enabled fraud has caused $3.7 billion in documented losses, and roughly one in five ad impressions shows invalid-traffic signals. Filters that guess whether something is human degrade as generators improve. Affirmative proof does not: a verified live human signs at the moment of action, and anyone can verify that signature offline, forever.

Does 5arz see or store my face?

No. Liveness and biometric processing happen entirely on your own device. Only a signed result is transmitted — never the image. 5arz never receives, stores, or could sell your biometric data, and the credential itself carries only a hashed subject reference, never raw personal information.

Free, forever — for every person

Prove you did it.
Free, forever.

Q: What is proof of human?

Proof of human is affirmative, cryptographic proof that a real, unique, attentive human — not a bot or an undeclared AI agent — performed a specific action online. 5arz issues it as a signed Proof-of-Human-Fulfillment (PoHF) credential, a small signed token bound to the action, that anyone can verify against a public key set (JWKS) without trusting 5arz. It is the opposite of detection, which only guesses.

Everyone else proves a human exists. We prove a human did it — a signed seal on a specific action, checkable by anyone, without trusting us and without us ever seeing your face. Detection guesses. 5arz signs.

Get yours free → Verify a credential For developers

Free for people, always · Patents pending (US 63/979,052 + 63/979,474) · Public JWKS · Live now

Definition

Proof of Human is affirmative, signed proof that a real, unique, attentive human performed a specific action — work, a view, a presence event, or a personhood check — issued as a portable credential anyone can verify against a public key, without trusting the issuer.

It is the opposite of detection. Detection is a probabilistic score that a system grades for itself and that sophisticated fraud slips past. Proof of Human is a real signature — checkable downstream by anyone, on any device, forever.

Why this exists

Most of the internet isn’t people anymore.

In 2025, automated traffic passed human traffic for the first time in a decade. Everything built on the assumption that a person is on the other end — ads, reviews, sign-ups, training data, elections — is running on an assumption that stopped being true.

53%

of web traffic is bots

Automated traffic overtook humans for the first time in a decade. Human activity is down to 47% and still falling. Blocked AI-driven attacks went from 2 million a day to 25 million.

Imperva/Thales Bad Bot Report 2026

$3.7B

lost to deepfake fraud

The FBI logged 22,364 AI-related complaints and $893M in adjusted losses for 2025 alone — and industry aggregates put documented global deepfake-enabled losses near $3.7B, 89% of it since the start of 2025.

FBI IC3 Annual Report, April 2026 · aggregate figure is an industry estimate

74%

of new web pages are AI-written

Nearly three quarters of newly created pages contain AI-generated text (Ahrefs, April 2025). Models increasingly train on model output — and researchers project human-written text suitable for training runs short between 2026 and 2032.

Ahrefs, 2025 · model collapse: Nature, 2024 · Epoch AI

$100B

projected ad fraud this year

Roughly one in five ad impressions carries invalid-traffic signals — 20.6% of the 105.7 billion analysed in 2025. On US programmatic spend, that rate implies roughly $37B a year associated with invalid traffic.

Fraudlogix 2026

Detection is losing. Every filter that guesses whether something is human is grading a moving target, and the target improves faster than the filter. The only thing that survives is the opposite approach: instead of guessing after the fact, have a real person sign for it at the moment it happens — and let anyone check that signature, forever, without asking permission.

That’s what a Proof of Human is. It doesn’t say who you are. It says a real, live person was here — and it’s free, for every person, permanently.

Verification takes about thirty seconds on the phone you already own — and nothing about your face ever leaves it.
Illustrative photography.

Get your Proof of Human — free → For business

WHY 5ARZ LEADS

Five things only 5arz puts together

Every competitor covers one slice. None of them say all five.

1

Signed & independently verifiable

A real ES256 credential anyone verifies via public JWKS — not a detection score that grades itself.

2

Bound to a unique, live human

Real-time attention, liveness, and device attestation — not a one-time orb scan or a statistical guess.

3

Work, attention, presence & personhood

One credential standard across all of them — not a single narrow check bolted onto a product.

4

A real legal property class

Grounded in UCC Article 12 (Controllable Electronic Records) and patent-pending technology. No one else pairs proof-of-human with property.

5

An open standard others build on

Public JWKS, open SDK, in-browser verifier, reference on-chain contracts. Verify against our keys — we're infrastructure, not a walled garden.

★

We define the category

Proof-of-Human is the category. 5arz wrote the definition, runs the standard, and issues the credential.

How a proof-of-human credential works

1

A human acts

A verified person does the work, watches the view, or completes the check on their own device.

2

5arz measures & signs

Real attention, liveness, and device signals are scored, then signed on the spot into a PoHF credential.

3

The credential travels

The signed token rides with the impression, the task delivery, or binds to a wallet on-chain.

4

Anyone verifies

Check the signature against the public JWKS with any JWT library — no 5arz SDK, no trust required.

Detection guesses. Orbs enroll. 5arz signs the proof.

Capability	Bot detectionIAS · DoubleVerify · HUMAN	Orb / iris personhoodWorldcoin · Humanity	5arz Proof of Human
Affirmative, signed proof (not a guess)	No — probabilistic	Partial	Yes — ES256 signed
Anyone can verify downstream	No	Closed	Yes — public JWKS
Proves a specific action happened	Inferred	No — just "a human exists"	Yes — bound to the action
No special hardware / central biometric DB	Yes	No — requires orb	Yes — on-device
Covers work + attention + presence + personhood	Attention only	Personhood only	All four
Legal property class behind it	No	No	UCC Article 12 + patents pending

Category comparison by capability. Vendor names shown as representative examples of each approach.

Where proof of human is used

Advertising & media →

Verified human impressions and attention — affirmative proof a real, attentive human saw the work, not a bot.

AI training data →

Provably human reasoning, preference, and judgment data — every datapoint signed by a verified unique human.

DeFi, RWA & airdrops →

On-chain isVerifiedHuman(wallet) gating and anti-sybil — verified-human without exposing identity.

Agentic commerce →

Prove a real human did the work an AI agent paid for — the fulfillment half of agent-to-human commerce.

Buy verifications (API) →

Meter the credential: pay per Proof-of-Human verification. Self-serve key, free test mode.

Developers →

Full API, SDK, JWKS, and on-chain reference. Integrate in minutes; verify anywhere.

Proof of human — FAQ

What is proof of human?

Affirmative, cryptographic proof that a real, unique, attentive human — not a bot or undeclared AI agent — performed a specific action. 5arz issues it as a signed PoHF credential anyone can verify against a public key set, without trusting 5arz.

How is it different from bot detection?

Detection is a probabilistic score that grades itself and that sophisticated bots slip past. Proof of human is a real signature asserting a human was present, checkable by anyone downstream. Detection guesses; proof is signed.

How is it different from orb / iris personhood?

No special hardware and no central biometric database. Biometric data stays on the user's device; only a signed attestation leaves. And it proves a specific action happened — not only that a unique human exists somewhere.

How do I verify a credential?

Each credential is an ES256-signed JWT. Fetch the public keys from api.5arz.com/.well-known/jwks.json and verify with any JWT library — or paste it into the in-browser verifier.

Can it run my product or network?

Yes. A simple API issues a signed credential per action, settles over standard rails, and verifies downstream without a 5arz SDK. You distribute; 5arz is the proof layer. Read the docs →

Stop guessing whether a human did it.

Issue a signed proof instead. Free to start, verifiable by anyone.

Start free → Talk to us

For business

Building on this?

Verifying a real human is free and unlimited on 5arz — 10,000 seals a month, no card. We charge for the dashboard, not the check.

Get your free API key → For business

Prove you did it.Free, forever.