About the project, the study and the funding

Human evidence is observable proof of how a person thinks, decides, communicates, and performs when doing real work.

It is not a résumé, a credential, a self-reported skill, or an AI-polished application. It is evidence created through action: the decisions someone makes, the work they produce, the judgment they apply, the tradeoffs they recognize, and their ability to explain why.

As AI makes it easier for everyone to produce polished outputs, the question is no longer simply, "Can this person produce an answer?" The more important question is, "What does the work tell us about the human behind the answer?"

Human evidence makes that visible.

It gives employers a stronger basis for trusting capability, and it gives individuals a way to demonstrate what they can do without relying solely on pedigree, job titles, or past access to opportunity.

Credentials tell us where someone has been. Human evidence shows us what they can do.

It is a public research initiative founded by SignalVerified (opens in a new tab), studying what counts as human capability now that machines can write, analyze, code and create, and what evidence of that capability organizations should trust when they make decisions. The 2027 study is the first wave of what we intend to be annual research. The principle is research first, company second.

Employers, educators and institutions still have to judge what a person can do. The tools those judgments rely on were designed for a world where the artifact and the ability were the same thing. There is very little evidence about what works now, and decisions are being made anyway.

The Human Evidence Project was founded and is funded by SignalVerified (opens in a new tab), a company working on provenance and evidence of contribution. SignalVerified has a commercial interest in this subject, which is why the funding is disclosed on every page rather than in a footnote.

Openness is the safeguard. The findings summary is published publicly, including results that challenge SignalVerified (opens in a new tab), and the survey, analysis plan and stated limitations are documented so the work can be checked. The full report, anonymized dataset and complete methodology are shared with the project's research partners. The funder does not review results before release.

It is the initiative's first annual study, built around one core question: what evidence do organizations trust when evaluating human capability in AI-enabled work? Wave one focuses on hiring and promotion decisions made by US managers at organizations with 50 or more employees.

No. Fieldwork for the main study closed in October 2026. Until October 31, 2026, hiring managers can still take an open edition of the survey from the home page; open-edition responses are reported separately from the main study sample. An early findings briefing is available now for hiring leaders on the home page, and a public findings summary releases in early January 2027.

Wave one is for US managers at organizations with 50 or more employees who made or influenced a hiring or promotion decision for a knowledge-work role in the past 12 months. HR and talent acquisition roles are not included in this wave. The survey confirmed eligibility through screening questions.

The main study survey took about 10 to 12 minutes and combined short answers about your own work with a small number of judgment tasks.

Responses are confidential and reported only in aggregate. We do not ask for your name or email address, and we do not publish anything intended to identify an individual or a specific employer. Research-panel links may include a respondent identifier for panel administration and response quality. The anonymized dataset and complete methodology are shared with the project's research partners, so the analysis can be checked in full.

An early findings briefing is available now for hiring leaders on the home page. The full report is published in early January 2027. The full report, anonymized dataset and complete methodology are shared with the project's research partners. No version is embargoed or privileged for the funder.

Five headline results from the first 148 U.S. hiring managers, three moves they point to, and the study's method and limits, in a three-page briefing. It is available now for hiring leaders: enter your name, work email and organization on the home page and it downloads immediately. The full report follows in early January 2027.

We welcome questions about the research, as well as replication and secondary analysis after publication. Write to the research team to get in touch.