Proof of Effort
Proof of Effort
What does PoE look at?
Proof of Effort (PoE) records the behavioral rhythm of writing as it happens and turns that record into evidence that a person did the work. It pays attention to how you write, never what you write. PoE is not AI detection and won't keep you from using AI sources. It only records what happend, without judgment.
A Quiet Companion
How Does PoE Work?
You write as you normally — PoE installs as an extension to LibreOffice Writer (Microsoft Word support is in progress) and needs no extra steps. PoE observes the rhythm of the session: timing, pauses, revisions, and bursts of activity, then blurs and pools this data the moment you type it. These signals aren't enough to ID you.
Receipts not Surveillance
Does PoE Read or Store What I Write?
No. PoE never reads, stores, or analyzes the text. It observes your movement across the keyboard. This Effort Record is stored inside your document and goes where it goes.
Is PoE biometric? Can It Identify Me?
No. PoE is non-biometric and cannot identify you unlike most keystroke systems. That's what makes it different. PoE removes that precision before any storage or scoring happens, and it compares your patterns against general human norms rather than against a stored profile of you. Picture a sharp photo of your face versus the shadow you cast: one is distinctly you, the other is just distinctly human.
Does PoE decide whether someone cheated?
No. PoE is a measurement tool, not a verdict. It reports the effort in a writing session. Feel free to copy and paste or retype content. The extension only records that these things occurred. What anyone decides from that evidence is a human judgment. PoE provides the record; people draw the conclusions.
Can't someone just retype AI-generated text to fool it?
Composing your own thoughts and retyping finished text leave different patterns. Original writing is full of planning pauses, revisions, and mistakes, while transcription (retyping) runs closer to a straight line. PoE checks a document section by section and flags passages that read as transcribed, with a confidence level. Pretending to write authentically takes more time and effort than writing authentically.
What can't PoE account for?
PoE documents what it can measure and discloses the rest. Text that arrives without real typing — pasted content from outside the document, dictation, or heavy autocomplete and phrase suggestions — can't be verified as typed, and PoE shows it as unverified or transcribed (retyped) rather than hiding it. Use whatever tools you like; just disclose them. Honest writing has nothing to fear from a record that shows exactly what happened.
Can anyone score a file?
Anyone can score PoE data from a document or from an imported .poe file. It's also free. All you need is the extension or you can drag and drop the file into the special Score Tool on our website. Both need an internet connection. The scoring engine is kept centralized, so it can't be manipulated.