Writing-process provenance vs. AI detection
Writing-process provenance records evidence while text is being created. AI detection starts with finished text and estimates how it may have been produced. Those are different questions and different kinds of evidence.
What writing-process provenance means
Provenance is a record of origin and history. For online writing, that can include observable actions such as typing, pasting, revising, and pauses, plus a cryptographic link between that process record and the published result.
ByHuman turns those observations into a signed receipt. The receipt is portable: a creator can link to a public proof page, and a reader or third-party verifier can check its signature.
Process records and AI detectors answer different questions
| Question | Writing-process provenance | AI-content detection |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Events observed during a writing session | Usually the finished text |
| Method | Recorded events, hashes, and a digital signature | Statistical classification or pattern matching |
| Claim | A specific process was observed and the receipt is intact | The text resembles one class of generated or written text |
| Main limitation | Only captures activity inside the observed workflow | Infers origin without observing the creation process |
What a signed process record is useful for
- Creators can attach inspectable process evidence to a post or article.
- Publishers can ask for a consistent receipt without pretending it proves authorship or factual accuracy.
- Researchers and tool builders can verify the receipt independently using the published key and RFC 8785 JSON canonicalization.
Boundaries matter
A valid receipt does not prove who pressed the keys, whether outside tools influenced the ideas, or whether the final claims are true. It also does not prove that a text is “100% human-written.” It verifies a recorded writing process within the supported environment.
ByHuman's receipt format is separate from C2PA, which defines a broader standard for content credentials and media provenance. ByHuman does not claim C2PA compliance.