// how certification works
What the badge actually means.
HCCN is not an AI detector — it never guesses whether text “looks AI-written.” Instead, every article carries a Human Authorship Certificate: an Ed25519-signed record of how the work was made and how strongly the author was authenticated. The higher the level, the more was observed and the stronger the identity proof.
// the levels
- Level 1Author DeclaredHuman Authored — Self Attested
- What it proves
- An identifiable HCCN account stands behind the work and attests they wrote it.
- How you earn it
- Publish on HCCN. It's a signed, on-the-record claim — but the process wasn't observed.
- Level 2Process VerifiedHuman Authorship — Process Verified
- What it proves
- The article was composed in the HCCN editor, and a continuous, tamper-evident record of that composition exists and matches the published text.
- How you earn it
- Write your article in the HCCN editor and publish. The editor records the process for you.
- Level 3Verified Human AuthorVerified Human Author
- What it proves
- Everything in Level 2, plus a registered passkey confirmed the author's presence during the writing session.
- How you earn it
- Add a passkey in your profile, then click “verify presence” in the editor before publishing.
- Level 4Enhanced Provenanceroadmap
- What it proves
- Adds a browser extension: research sources consulted, cross-application paste attribution, and registered-device authentication.
- How you earn it
- Roadmap — will require the HCCN browser extension during composition.
- Level 5Studio Verifiedroadmap
- What it proves
- The strongest tier: on-device screen analysis, liveness checks, a restricted composition environment, and signed device evidence.
- How you earn it
- Roadmap — the highest-assurance mode, processed on-device with only derived evidence retained.
Levels 1–3 are live today. Levels 4–5 are on the roadmap. Certification strength always tracks how strongly the author was authenticated.
// what every certificate shows
How much was directly composed vs. pasted, declared quotations, and any undeclared large pastes — reported honestly, not hidden.
Verified writing sessions, document revisions, and a privacy-preserving timeline of the writing — derived from timing only, never the draft text.
A live re-check of the Ed25519 signature, the tamper-evident hash chain, and whether the published content still matches what was certified.
Anyone can verify a certificate off-platform with HCCN’s public key — in a browser extension, an embedded badge, or their own code.
// what it does not claim
HCCN verifies the recorded composition process and the integrity of the associated provenance record. It does not claim that unobserved external assistance was impossible — a person could, for instance, draft elsewhere and retype. We tell readers exactly what was proven, and nothing more. That honesty is the point.