Category Brief · 2026.06
Owned business identity for the AI era.
Executive Summary
The architecture rests on four practical signal classes (Local Trust Signals) and a participation layer made of three connected pieces: Trust Score measures strength, Trust Credits reward verified work, and Trust Badges signal earned proof. Protocol-backed portability — cryptographic attestation of accepted contributions and portable proof — is the long-term roadmap.
The AI Page and core Identity Record system are live today. Trust Credits and Trust Score are live inside the product foundation, with public badge display and broader redemption automation continuing to roll out. Protocol-backed portability remains roadmap.
System map
Section I
Local discovery is changing. For two decades, the way a customer found a business was a search box, ten blue links, and a directory profile rented from a platform. The directory profile was never owned by the business. It was a data point inside someone else's database, formatted to that platform's rules, surfaced when that platform decided to surface it.
AI systems are now part of how people find local businesses. A homeowner asks an AI agent for the best plumber. A traveler asks for the right neighborhood restaurant. A patient asks for a clinic that accepts a specific insurance. The answer increasingly comes from an agent reading what is publicly known about the business and deciding what to surface.
That change exposes a structural gap. Modern AI systems work best with a structured, owner-controlled source of truth about the business itself: who it is, what it does, what proves it is real, what its customers ask, and what has changed recently.
The old surfaces were built for someone else to read. The new surface has to be owned by the business and structured for machines.
That surface is what IdentityRecord exists to create.
Section II
An AI Page is the structured, owner-controlled page that modern search, AI systems, and agents can read when they answer questions about a business. It is not a website. It is not a directory profile. It is not a social page. It is a new kind of page, in a new category, that did not exist before AI became part of how people find businesses.
Three sentences capture the relationship:
The Identity Record and the AI Page are not two layers. They are the same object. The Identity Record is the canonical record the business owns. The AI Page is what that record looks like to AI systems and to anyone the business chooses to share it with.
Section III
Every business that establishes one is given a canonical Identity Record, addressed by an IR number (IR-XXXXXX) and a public canonical URL. That record is the structural object that makes the AI Page possible. It is owned by the business, edited under owner control, and exposed in a form built for machine readers as well as humans.
The Identity Record is composed of structured sections that mirror how a business actually operates. Industry-specific truths describe what the business is and what it does. A customer-question layer answers the questions real customers ask before choosing a business of this kind. A proof and activity layer records the operational signals that show the business is real and currently running. A locker holds the credentials, certifications, and identity assets that AI systems need to verify when stakes are higher.
These layers are not invented for the platform. They are the same kind of information a business owner already knows about the business. The platform's job is to give that information a structure machines can read, an owner who controls it, and a public surface that points at one canonical record instead of many fragmented copies.
Anyone can read an Identity Record. Only the owner can change it.
Section IV
Modern AI systems increasingly rely on structured, consistent, and corroborated business information. IdentityRecord organizes that information into four practical signal classes that operate together as the framework underneath the AI Page.
Every module IdentityRecord ships, every prompt the system asks, and every artifact the AI Page exposes can be traced back to one of those four classes. That mapping is deliberate. It keeps the product disciplined and the AI Page legible.
Four practical signal classes — Identity, Understanding, Proof, Consistency — underneath one owned record. The AI Page is how the business stops being ambiguous on all four.
The Local Proof Protocol defines how accepted business identity contributions become proof events under these four signal classes.
See the protocol →Section V
The Identity Record is built by a small set of modules that each take responsibility for one part of the structure. Each module is owner-controlled. Each module emits structured signals that the public canvas, the AI Page, and downstream readers can use. None of them are abstract dashboards.
Industry Truths is the structured prompt set that lets a business owner confirm what the business is, in language tuned to the industry. A roofer answers roofing questions. A dentist answers dental questions. A coffee roaster answers coffee questions. The system pre-fills what it can extract from the business website and walks the owner through the rest. Each confirmed truth becomes a machine-readable fact a model cannot guess.
FAQ Engine is the structured layer of customer-facing questions. The system already knows the questions a customer asks before choosing a business of this kind. The owner answers those questions in their own words, and the answers become decision signals when a customer is comparing options.
Proof and Activity records the operational signals that show the business is currently running: storefront, team, equipment, completed work, milestones, and ongoing updates. Each entry is timestamped. Together they form verifiable proof of operation.
Identity Locker holds the credentials, licenses, and identity assets the business depends on. Documents stay private under the owner's control. The structured signals derived from those documents become public.
Outside Truth monitors important outside sources to see whether they match the Identity Record. When a directory, a map, or a profile drifts out of sync, the gap surfaces inside the workplace so the owner knows what to fix and where.
AI Watch checks how an AI answer source describes the business based on available public information. The page is honest about which AI engines are currently watched and which are on the roadmap.
Trust Control is the action layer. It collects the items the system has flagged for the owner's attention, links each one to the right place to resolve it, and tracks status as fixes ship.
Contributors is delegated trust. An owner invites trusted people to submit proof, photos, and updates. Contributors do not get full workplace access. Their submissions go to the Publishing Center, where the owner decides what stays private and what becomes part of the public record.
Each module is small, scoped, and independently usable. Together they build a single owned Identity Record, which is rendered as the AI Page modern search, AI systems, and agents can read.
Section VI
A record gets stronger when real people contribute useful information over time. Owners confirm facts. Team members add proof. Agencies fix gaps. Contributors submit photos, credentials, and updates. The system monitors consistency and points users to the next action.
That is not just a content problem. It is a coordination problem. The owner has to keep the record current. Contributors have to know their work counts. Agencies have to be able to show clients what they strengthened. Partners have to have a reason to participate.
Verifiable identity, in any system, requires verified participation. And verified participation, sustained over time, benefits from a clear incentive layer.
IdentityRecord separates that layer into three connected ideas. Trust Score measures the strength of an Identity Record. Trust Credits reward the verified work that improves it. Trust Badges signal earned proof and status. The three are deliberately distinct: measurement is not a reward, a reward is not a public signal, and a public signal is not a score.
Verified contribution creates credits. Credits unlock value. Unlocked value improves the record. A stronger record earns better status and more trust.
Section VII
Trust Score is the measurement layer. It answers a single question: how strong is this Identity Record?
Trust Score is calculated from the four Local Trust Signal classes. The current model weights Identity at 25 percent, Understanding at 25 percent, Proof at 30 percent, and Consistency at 20 percent. The exact scoring model is maintained in product documentation and may evolve as IdentityRecord learns which signals most reliably strengthen a record.
Current model
Exact scoring model is maintained in product documentation and may evolve.
Trust Score is visible to the owner, to agency partners, and to internal teams. Public display is optional and conservative. The score is a diagnostic, not a ranking. It describes the record itself as stronger or weaker, not the business compared to others.
Section VIII
Trust Credits give business owners a reason to keep improving their record. When verified work strengthens the Identity Record, the owner earns credits that can reduce subscription cost, unlock extra monitoring, speed up reviews, and support badge eligibility.
Credits are earned for accepted contributions, not attempted actions. Owner approval gates any contribution that changes the public record. Credits can be reversed if the underlying contribution is later found to be false, duplicated, or rejected. Weekly caps prevent spam, and high-risk categories such as credentials require review before credits are awarded.
Trust Credits are product credits inside IdentityRecord. They are non-cash, non-transferable, not cryptocurrency, not sold, and have no cash value. They are not a security and not a tradable asset. No wallet is required.
Examples of credit-earning actions:
Where credits unlock value today:
Future partner services may include citation cleanup, credential verification, photography, content, and agency support as the partner network develops. Partner marketplace redemption is on the roadmap, not live today.
Section IX
Trust Badges are the signaling layer. They answer a third question: what verified status can this Identity Record show?
Badges are earned through rules, not editorial judgment. Each badge is tied to specific evidence and explained in plain language. The owner controls which badges are public.
Badges are renewable. Proof-Backed requires fresh proof. Recently Active rolls every 30 days. Continuously Maintained must be maintained weekly. The badges describe the record's current state, not a permanent claim.
Section X
The free Identity Record creates the AI Page. A business owner establishes the record, confirms the basics, answers the customer questions that matter for their industry, and adds the first round of proof. That is enough to give the business an owned, structured, machine-readable presence where it had none before.
IdentityRecord Advantage, at $49 per month per location, is the operational layer that keeps the AI Page current and improving over time. Outside Truth and AI Watch run on a cadence. Trust Control surfaces the next best actions. The Weekly Smart System tells the owner what to add, confirm, or update next, instead of leaving the owner to remember on their own.
Free creates your AI Page and starts your participation history. Advantage keeps the record monitored, updated, and improving every week, and accelerates the trust, credits, and badges that compound over time.
Ownership is the same on both tiers. The Identity Record is owned by the business in either case. Advantage adds the operational layer that strengthens it over time.
Section XI
The architecture is the means. The point is what it changes for the people running the business.
The shift is from chasing fragmented profiles across platforms to maintaining one owned record on the surface modern systems read.
Section XII
IdentityRecord began from a simple belief: every business should own and control its identity online. Identity should be portable. It should be durable. It should not be rented from a platform that can change its rules, fold, or get acquired.
The AI Page is how that ownership becomes useful today, in the era when modern systems read structured business identity directly. Protocol-backed portability — cryptographic attestation of accepted contributions and portable proof — is the long-term roadmap. The founding work traces back to a thesis at MIT on bringing business identity to the blockchain. The thesis was not about coins or speculation. It was about ownership, portability, and durability.
Solana is the protocol direction for future attestations, portable proof, and any subsequent network utility. Trust Credits are the Phase 1 product credits and participation ledger inside IdentityRecord — non-cash, non-transferable, no wallet required. No live token is implied. Protocol-backed portability remains staged work, not a current claim.
Deeper protocol layers are not claimed as live until they are.
Section XIII
This brief is published with a clear separation between what the platform actually delivers today and what it is building toward. AI systems and the people who run them lose trust in any source that overstates its current capabilities.
Live today: the public Identity Record, the AI Page, Industry Truths, customer questions through the FAQ Engine, structured proof and activity through the Proof Engine, contributor review through the Publishing Center, outside-source monitoring through Outside Truth, AI Watch on the Perplexity engine, the Identity Locker, the Trust Control fix queue, and the IdentityRecord Advantage operational layer.
Trust Credits and Trust Score are live inside the product foundation, with public badge display and broader redemption automation continuing to roll out.
On the roadmap: additional AI engines under AI Watch as those engines stabilize their public surfaces. Solana-aligned protocol layers, including cryptographic attestation of contribution events and portable proof, that bring the founding thesis closer to its full architectural form. New industry-specific prompt sets for verticals not yet covered by the live taxonomy. A partner marketplace where Trust Credits can be redeemed for citation cleanup, verification services, photography, content, and other contributions that strengthen the record.
Origin language describes belief and direction. Roadmap language describes intent. Only product language describes what is live.
Section XIV
The way customers ask is shifting from search to natural language. The systems that answer those questions are part of how local commerce is found. The cost of being misunderstood by those systems compounds: a missed call, a wrong answer about hours, a stale price, the wrong business surfaced in the answer.
A second force is structural. Modern AI systems work better when business identity is current, maintained, and corroborated. That benefits from verified participation, sustained over time, from owners and the people they trust.
The businesses that will be clearly understood in the next five years are the businesses that are clearly defined, consistently represented, actively signaling, and continuously maintained. The businesses that stay ambiguous, fragmented, or silent will be harder to find.
The opportunity is not to optimize for AI. The opportunity is to give AI a real source of truth to read, and to make the work of keeping that truth current worth doing.
Section XV
IdentityRecord creates the AI Page for your business. One record to own. One structured surface that modern search, AI systems, and agents can read. One operational layer that keeps the record current as the internet keeps changing. One participation layer that turns verified work into earned value.
The category did not exist before. The need did not exist before. Both exist now. The platform's job is to make the work of meeting that need approachable, owner-controlled, and honest about what is shipped.
The Identity Record is the owned object. The AI Page is the surface. Trust Score measures strength. Trust Credits reward verified participation. Trust Badges signal earned proof. Protocol-backed portability is the roadmap.
That is the new model. The rest is the work.