Protocol Specification
An open, verifiable and extensible AI evidence protocol
Overview
AEP (Attestation & Evidence Exchange Protocol) is an open protocol that provides trusted digital proof for AI-generated content.
The core problem it solves: in an era of mass AI-generated content, how to prove who generated a piece of content, when it was generated, and whether it remains complete and unaltered.
Through cryptography, time proof and verifiable data structures, AEP builds a complete trusted chain from generation to verification for AI content, independently verifiable by anyone.
Design Principles
Openness
An open protocol; anyone can build their own implementation
Security
Built on proven cryptography; every claim is verifiable
Extensibility
Modular design supporting algorithm and data structure extensions
Interoperability
Compatible with existing standards and ecosystems
Core Concepts
Evidence
A verifiable claim, the basic unit of the protocol
Artifact
The AI-generated content artifact
Event
A record of an operation during generation
Identity
The identifier of the generator
Evidence Graph
A graph of events and artifacts fully recording the generation process
Evidence Levels
From L0 to L7, evidence strength increases progressively
No evidence
Claim: content only
Hash record: content fingerprint notarized
Signed record: signature + hash, traceable source
Timestamp: adds time proof, replay protection
Event chain: continuous event records, auditable process
Complete graph: closed evidence graph
Judicial grade: full evidence chain for legal scenarios
Relationship with Other Standards
C2PA
C2PA focuses on content provenance (Content Credentials); AEP focuses on verifiable evidence of the generation process. They complement each other.
W3C PROV
PROV is a general provenance standard; AEP's evidence graph is compatible with its model, focusing on AI generation scenarios.
MCP
MCP is a protocol for AI-tool interaction; AEP provides MCP integration for native AI agent support.