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proof of personhood
also proof of humanity or proof of human or PoP or personhood credential
Definition of proof of personhood
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: a verification method or digital credential that allows an online service to establish that a participant is a real, usually unique human rather than a bot, AI agent, or duplicate identity, often without learning the person's legal identity
- The forum required proof of personhood before allowing each participant to cast one vote.
- A privacy-preserving proof of humanity let the user show that a real person stood behind the account without revealing a name or passport number.
Origin & history
The term proof-of-personhood was introduced in a 2017 paper on anonymous credentials for permissionless systems. It became newly prominent in the mid-2020s as generative AI, automated accounts, and AI agents made it harder for online services to distinguish people from software.
Editorial references
Sources & further reading
- Proof-of-Personhood: Redemocratizing Permissionless Cryptocurrencies↗ Research Paper · 2017 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops · 2017-04-29
- Personhood credentials: Artificial intelligence and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online↗ Research Preprint · arXiv · 2024-08-14
- Proving Humanity: Why the Agentic Web Urgently Needs Proof of Personhood↗ Industry Research · Galaxy Research · 2026-10-16
- World ID app: a new identity wallet for the age of AI↗ Company Announcement · World · 2026-10-18
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Cite this entry
"Proof of personhood." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/proof-of-personhood/. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.