Glossary: bots, AI slop and proof of personhood
Short, plain definitions of the words that come up when people talk about bots, AI and trust on social media, and how each one applies to Sincerus.
Updated
What is a human-only social network?
A human-only social network is one built so that every post comes from a real person, with no bots and no AI-generated content. Sincerus is one: every post is typed in an editor where paste and AI writing are off and confirmed on its author’s iPhone.
What is AI slop?
AI slop is low-effort content generated by AI in bulk: posts, images or replies made to fill feeds and collect attention rather than to say something. Sincerus keeps it out by turning off paste and AI writing tools in the post editor and confirming every post on its author’s iPhone.
What is a bot account?
A bot account is run by software instead of a person, posting, replying or following automatically. Some are harmless and labelled; many pretend to be people. On Sincerus, posting needs a real iPhone and its owner’s confirmation, so automated accounts can’t post. See how to spot a bot account.
What is proof of personhood?
Proof of personhood is any method that shows an account belongs to a real, unique human, without necessarily revealing who. Approaches range from ID checks to biometrics. Sincerus proves something narrower that it can check every time: that each post was typed and confirmed by the person holding a genuine iPhone.
What is Apple App Attest?
App Attest is Apple’s service that lets an app prove a request comes from the genuine app on a genuine Apple device, using a key kept in the device’s Secure Enclave. Sincerus uses it to sign every post. See how verification works.
What is end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption means a message is encrypted on the sender’s device and can only be decrypted on the recipient’s; the service in between can’t read it. Sincerus chats are end-to-end encrypted. See security.
What is a safety number?
A safety number is a code two people in an encrypted chat can compare to confirm no one is intercepting their messages. If it matches on both phones, the chat is only between the two of them. Every Sincerus chat has one.
What is a chronological feed?
A chronological feed shows posts in the order they were published, newest first, instead of ranking them by predicted engagement. Sincerus opens on Following, a chronological feed of the people you follow.
Sincerus is a social network for iPhone where every post is typed by a person and confirmed with Face ID. No bots, no AI-written posts.