The Human Evidence Project
What counts as human capability when machines can do more of the work?
Artificial intelligence can now write, analyze, code and create. The Human Evidence Project studies what that changes about human capability — and what evidence of it organizations should trust.
Figure — The proof lattice: judgement frames set against a measured register, with evidence anchored where the two meet.
The central question
When a machine can produce the artifact, what is the evidence that a person contributed the capability — and who decides that it counts?
Most work on artificial intelligence measures what the systems can do. Far less is known about the people and institutions on the other side of that output: the employers, educators and decision-makers who must still judge capability, and who are working without an evidence base for how to do it.
What we study
Four lines of inquiry
- 01
Capability under automation
Which human abilities become more valuable, not less, as systems absorb routine analysis, drafting and production work.
- 02
Evidence organizations trust
What employers, educators and institutions currently accept as proof of a person's contribution — and how well that evidence holds up.
- 03
Attribution of work
How contribution is judged when a piece of work passes through people and machines together, and where credit is misassigned.
- 04
Decisions that follow
How hiring, promotion, admission and procurement decisions change once the origin of work becomes uncertain.
The study
The State of Human Evidence 2027
The first wave of an annual research project into how capability is demonstrated and judged in workplaces where machines contribute to the work. It asks professionals what they produce, what they are asked to prove, and what they accept as proof from others.
Participation takes about fifteen minutes. Responses are anonymous, the questions are published in advance, and the resulting dataset and report are released to everyone at the same time.
- Field
- Human capability and evidence of contribution
- Population
- Professionals and decision-makers across knowledge-work sectors
- Instrument
- Structured survey with judgement tasks; published before fielding
- Collection
- 2027, single wave, with a pre-registered analysis plan
- Outputs
- Public report, anonymised dataset and full methodology
Transparency
Research before conclusions
The Human Evidence Project is a research project, not an institution. It is founded and funded by SignalVerified, a company with a commercial interest in this subject. We disclose that in the open rather than in a footnote, and we hold the work to terms that make the funding checkable.
Questions before answers
The instrument and analysis plan are written, reviewed and published before a single response is collected. Nothing is reframed after the results arrive.
The data, not the summary
Anonymised responses and the full method are released alongside every finding, so any claim we make can be checked against the record that produced it.
Findings published in full
Results are published whether or not they support our funder's position. No finding is withheld, delayed or softened for commercial reasons.
Participation
Put your judgement into the evidence base.
The study depends on people who make and assess work every day. Fifteen minutes, anonymous, with the results published for everyone.