I’ve spotted this in a couple of places over the last few weeks and find it an interesting approach. You post a bit of JSON script on your site, and then someone can ‘vouch’ that you are human if they have the required browser extensions.
I think I’ve got that right.
Update: I didn’t quite, check the comments as the creator of human.json popped by to clarify things!
I am not convinced. Especially when the latest post I spotted is by someone who is anonymous on their own blog? And while I wholeheartedly believe they are a human, they’ve already taken a step away from being just that on their own website… ohh and revisit their site and try and find the link you just clicked, impossible, which seems sort of ‘anti-human’ by design?
I jest, I’ve read a few posts from Hakkerblog and can vouch that they are human.
I understand the thinking behind the human.json protocol as a way to push back against the rise of A.I. created content and blogs, and perhaps my own view —as a blogger since 1999— is a little different from others, but I do think this is a technical solution where one isn’t needed (I do have an AI statement for my site though).
Read the blog. Leave a comment, email the author. Decide from there?
Equally, the rise of em dashes is taken as a ‘giveaway’ of A.I. use and, in the opposite direction, so are spelling mistakes. How long before A.I. starts adding in spelling mistakes in an undetectable way? How long before more people realise you can ask A.I. to tone down the use of a phrase, or sentence structure OR PUNCTUATION.
A.I. is already capable of better mimicking human writing and typing foibles, that ship has sailed.
Maybe we need to trust our gut, actually spend a few minutes validating what we are reading with our own eyes before handing off the problem to yet another technical solution to solve this issue? Isn’t that the whole point of the IndieWeb, that it’s real humans, so let’s apply some real human thinking, learn to critique, learn to confirm, learn to research and validate on your own.
So no, I won’t be adding human.json to my site to rely on another human having a browser extension and the time, and care, to vouch for me as a human. I don’t see what advantages that brings for anyone. Is the goal to have, over time, all human created and maintained websites flagged as such? To what end? So that I know what I’m reading is created by a human and not A.I.?
In a few years time A.I. will be a whole other thing, will be moving faster, adapting better, and start to become part of day to day life whether we like it or not. I don’t know the shape of that, I hope humans keep steady hands on the tiller but history suggests that isn’t likely —we only need look at social media and the hate scrolling algorithms us humans have created— so more than ever we need to learn how to think for ourselves, need to be better at developing critical thinking in our children.
Just a thought, from my human brain.
Edit: I spotted a typo so nipped back to fix it and repost. It’s true, you only see typos after you post.
What are your thoughts?