First Person Project
= "The First Person Project is based on the realization that digital trust is ultimately grounded in first-person trust relationships." [1]
URL = https://www.firstperson.network/
Description
"The First Person Project is an international multi-stakeholder collaboration whose goal is to solve one of the oldest and hardest problems on the Internet:
- How can you prove you are a real, unique person online through authentic trust relationships?**
This challenge is widely known as **proof of personhood**. The First Person Project is based on the realization that digital trust is ultimately grounded in first-person trust relationships that can be represented through two new types of verifiable digital credentials:
- **Personhood credentials** are issued by any qualified ecosystem—such as a company, university, nonprofit community, government, or other trusted organization—that can attest that the credential holder is a real, unique person within that ecosystem.
- **Verifiable relationship credentials** are issued peer-to-peer between holders of personhood credentials to attest to authentic first-person trust relationships.
These First Person credentials can be stored in any compatible digital wallet and presented whenever proof is needed that the holder is a real, unique human being. This approach is:
- **Decentralized**: there is no centralized database of First Person credential holders or their biometrics. Credentials are stored only in the digital wallets of the individuals to whom they are issued, while any biometric information remains local to their devices.
- **Privacy-preserving**: First Person credentials enable strong zero-knowledge verification that someone is a real person without requiring the disclosure of personal data or participation in any global biometric database.
The technical foundations for this approach have been under development for more than two decades. The emergence of generative AI in 2024, with its unprecedented ability to impersonate humans convincingly, highlighted the urgent need for a robust, privacy-preserving system of digital personhood.
Together, the issuers and holders of First Person credentials form a decentralized trust graph. Governed coherently, this infrastructure enables the First Person Network to provide not only privacy-preserving proof of personhood but also the foundations for individuals to safely delegate authority to trusted personal AI agents.
The First Person Project originated as a collaboration among Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT), Ayra Association, Trust Over IP (ToIP), Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), and OpenWallet Foundation (OWF). Although the project does not yet have an official legal home, its long-term objective is to establish the **First Person Cooperative (FPC)** as the governing body of the First Person Network.
The project is conceived as an open collaborative effort, and both individual contributors and organized trust communities are invited to participate in its development and governance."