Personhood credentials: Artificial intelligence and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online
2024/08/15 by Steven Adler, Adler, Steven, Zoë Hitzig +65 · 15 voices · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Ethics and Social Impacts of AI #cs.CY
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.07892
openalex publication_date 2024/08/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract
Anonymity is an important principle online. However, malicious actors have long used misleading identities to conduct fraud, spread disinformation, and carry out other deceptive schemes. With the advent of increasingly capable AI, bad actors can amplify the potential scale and effectiveness of their operations, intensifying the challenge of balancing anonymity and trustworthiness online. In this paper, we analyze the value of a new tool to address this challenge: "personhood credentials" (PHCs), digital credentials that empower users to demonstrate that they are real people -- not AIs -- to online services, without disclosing any personal information. Such credentials can be issued by a range of trusted institutions -- governments or otherwise. A PHC system, according to our definition, could be local or global, and does not need to be biometrics-based. Two trends in AI contribute to the urgency of the challenge: AI's increasing indistinguishability from people online (i.e., lifelike content and avatars, agentic activity), and AI's increasing scalability (i.e., cost-effectiveness, accessibility). Drawing on a long history of research into anonymous credentials and "proof-of-personhood" systems, personhood credentials give people a way to signal their trustworthiness on online platforms, and offer service providers new tools for reducing misuse by bad actors. In contrast, existing countermeasures to automated deception -- such as CAPTCHAs -- are inadequate against sophisticated AI, while stringent identity verification solutions are insufficiently private for many use-cases. After surveying the benefits of personhood credentials, we also examine deployment risks and design challenges. We conclude with actionable next steps for policymakers, technologists, and standards bodies to consider in consultation with the public.
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Discussions
- I’m an author on a new preprint advancing a topic I’ve been fascinated by for years: privacy-protecting ways to determine whether something is human as AI agents (good & malign) become increasingly pr [bsky, 37 points, 2 comments]
- We need institutions to work on problems like this: arxiv.org/abs/2408.07892 [bsky, 12 points, 0 comments]
- AI and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online [hn, 5 points, 1 comments]
- AI and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online [hn, 4 points, 0 comments]
- So delighted that the @futureofprivacy.bsky.social selected "Personhood Credentials: Artificial Intelligence and the Value of Privacy-Preserving Tools to Distinguish Who is Real Online" as a winner of [bsky, 2 points, 1 comments]
- AI and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online [hn, 1 points, 0 comments]
- ✅ Add "Personhood Credentials" (PHCs) to the list of persistent identifiers used to ensure consistent and unique identity and trustworthiness online. arxiv.org/pdf/2408.07892 #AI #ResearchIntegrit [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- 🚨 PLAN ID AVANZA: Microsoft y OpenAI proponen sistema de "credenciales de identidad". Fuente: arxiv.org/pdf/2408.07892 [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- Paper: Personhood Credentials [hn, 1 points, 0 comments]
- arxiv.org/abs/2408.07892 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- @hankgreen.bsky.social this white paper addresses the exact issue you covered in your latest video, great reading if you have the time. arxiv.org/pdf/2408.07892 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- I am very interested to see where you go with this. I have some ideas that need data attached to profiles. But I'm more thinking of personhood credentials here (arxiv.org/abs/2408.07892). [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Personhood credentials: Artificial intelligence and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online arxiv.org/pdf/2408.07892 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Is there a way to tell if someone is human on the internet? Maybe, if this idea of "personhood credentials" is to be believed Also, I wonder could it provide a better way to do age verification with [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Is there a way to tell if someone is human on the internet? Maybe, if this idea of "personhood credentials" is to be believed Also, I wonder could it provide a better way to do age verification with [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
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