POH — An Alternative Foundation for AI
Not controlled by any single government, company, or server
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What happens when a handful of companies control all the AI?Right now, almost every AI system in the world runs on servers owned by a small number of corporations — most of them in one country. They decide what the AI can say, what it can see, and who gets access. Governments pressure them. They comply. You never know.
This is a problem that gets worse as AI gets more important.════════════════════════════════════════════════════
What is Proof of Human?
POH is an AI network that runs on the computers of the people using it — not on any company's servers.
Think of it like Bitcoin, but instead of processing financial transactions, it processes AI jobs. The "miners" are regular people running a small app on their laptop or desktop. Each one runs an AI model locally. Jobs come in, get processed, results go out. No central point. No single country. No single company that can be pressured into shutting it down or changing how it behaves.
The AI is as decentralized as the network running it. [you] [you] [you]
\ | /
\ | /
[you]──────[POH Network]──────[you]
/ | \
/ | \
[you] [you] [you]
No center. No owner. No off switch.
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How it works
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Download the miner app. Pick an AI model. │
│ ↓ │
│ 2. Your computer joins the network. │
│ ↓ │
│ 3. AI jobs arrive. You process them locally. │
│ ↓ │
│ 4. Results are verified by the network. │
│ ↓ │
│ 5. You earn POH tokens for every job. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The current live use case is the
Address Scanner: submit a crypto wallet address, get back an AI-powered assessment of whether it belongs to a real person. It works today, across three production nodes in different locations.
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Skills — Teaching the Network New Things
This is where it gets interesting.
The network is not limited to one use case.
Skills are small programs that run on every computer in the network and teach the AI what to look for. Anyone can write one and propose it.
Examples:
- Detect suspicious patterns in smart contract code
- Score a transaction for wash trading
- Classify on-chain behavior for compliance checks
- Any other "look at this, tell me what you see" task
How a skill goes live: PROPOSE ──→ STAKING ──→ GRADUATED ──→ ACTIVE ──→ EARN
1,000 POH community 10,000 POH all nodes per job
stakes
[list=1]
- You write the skill and submit it with 1,000 POH as a deposit
- The community stakes behind it toward a 10,000 POH threshold
- Once it reaches 10,000 POH, it goes live automatically — every computer on the network picks it up within seconds
- Every time your skill runs on a real job, you earn a share of the fee — forever
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Why This Matters
Governments can pressure a company. They cannot pressure a protocol.
The problem with centralized AI is not just privacy or cost. It is that the entity controlling the AI controls what questions can be asked, what answers can be given, and who gets cut off. We have already seen this play out with content moderation, financial access, and information filtering.
Centralized AI POH
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One company owns it Network owned by its users
One country can ban it No single country to ban
One server to subpoena Thousands of private machines
Model changes when pressured Protocol changes by consensus
You pay per API call You earn by contributing
A network of thousands of computers, each running AI locally, each owned by a different person in a different country, does not have a throat to choke.
No single country can ban it. No company can be acquired and pivoted. No government can send a letter demanding changes to the model.The AI belongs to the network. The network belongs to whoever runs a node.
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Current Status
✓ Three production nodes live (independently operated)
✓ Address Scanner live and processing real jobs
✓ Skills Directory open for submissions
✓ Miner app: GUI installer, one download, Windows / Mac / Linux
✓ Open protocol — run a node, build a skill, or fork the code
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Get Involved
Run a node: https://proofofhuman.geX: @poh_networkChat: @poh_network_group════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Questions welcome. Especially interested in hearing from people who have thought seriously about AI governance and what happens when the infrastructure for intelligence is owned by the few.