How the standard works in practice
The producer chooses one of three HPF classifications for the finished production: No AI Used, Assistive AI or Generative AI. An authorised representative signs a declaration for the version it covers.
The declaration can travel with the production between sales agencies, buyers, distributors, platforms and festivals. The same information can ultimately be shown to audiences.
HPF works as a signed document. No technical setup is needed.
Process overview
One declaration covers one released version of a work and may travel with every delivery of that version. A later released version, such as a director’s cut or a substantive localisation, has its own declaration, even where the facts are unchanged. Some localisation and episodic cases remain under consultation. The earlier declaration continues to cover its version. Classify and declare your production lists which releases normally need a new declaration.
Ask the people and suppliers responsible for material in the finished version what AI output, if any, reached it.
Apply the classification and sign the declaration.
Keep the declaration with the production’s paperwork and pass it on.
A distributor, broadcaster, festival or platform may choose to show the classification to audiences.
Producers
The producer gathers the information, chooses the classification and signs the declaration.
Stages 01 and 02You can gather the information while the production is under way or after it is complete. Either way, establish for each possible AI use:
- Was an AI-powered function used?
- What did it do?
- Did any of its output reach the released version?
- Did it process or reconstruct supplied human-created material, or originate new content?
For example, a synthetic scratch voice replaced before delivery is outside the declaration; synthetic narration retained in the final mix is relevant.
Suppliers can provide facts about their own deliverables. You are responsible for the final classification and the signed declaration. How far enquiry should go before a No AI Used declaration is an open consultation question, not a current HPF requirement.
During development and production
Keep track of whether AI output is used only for reference or temporary work, or is carried into material intended for release. At handoffs, make clear what should be replaced and what is being retained. A tool name alone does not establish what will reach the finished version.
In post-production or after completion
Start with the version you intend to declare. Ask the people and suppliers responsible for its picture, sound, and relevant text what AI output remains, including material originally intended as temporary or reference-only. Establish what was replaced, what was retained, and what was changed before delivery.
HPF does not require a production-wide log, a tool inventory or an audit trail.
Complete the declaration
Once the version is finished and you have the answers you need, complete the declaration. It records:
- the production and the released version covered;
- the HPF classification;
- for Assistive AI or Generative AI, a concise factual summary of what the AI did and what output reached the released version;
- the HPF standard version applied;
- the producer or production company making the declaration; and
- the name, date and signature of someone authorised to sign.
Tool names can support the summary, but do not replace it. You can use the blank declaration form or create your own document with the same information.
HPF relies on the producer’s signed declaration. It does not inspect the production or certify the result. The form only becomes a contractual warranty if the parties choose to make it one in their agreement.
The classification describes what happened. It is not a judgement on whether that use was good or bad.
For step-by-step guidance on gathering the relevant facts, applying the taxonomy and completing the declaration, see Classify and declare your production.
Sales agencies
Stage 03A sales agency that holds a signed declaration keeps it with the correct production and version, and can pass it on with the relevant licensing or delivery paperwork. Whether to request or carry a declaration is the agency’s own decision.
If no sales agency is involved, the producer sends the declaration directly to the buyer, distributor, platform or festival.
The classification comes from the producer. The sales agency passes that declaration on without changing it or filling in a missing classification.
Receiving organisations
Stages 03 and 04If you receive a declaration, keep it with the correct production and version.
There is no HPF classification. Do not treat a missing, incomplete or uncertain declaration as No AI Used. Record that no HPF classification has been provided, then apply your own policy.
Each organisation decides what the classification means for its own eligibility, approval and other policy decisions, and whether or how to show it to audiences. HPF does not determine compliance with any contractual or regulatory requirement.
If your organisation wants to collect and retain HPF declarations within an existing funding, submission, commissioning, acquisition or delivery process, see Add HPF to your workflow.
If your organisation already asks about AI use, When an organisation asks about AI explains what an HPF declaration can answer and what information may still need to be requested separately.
Optional technical integration
Organisations can also store the classification as metadata against the relevant title and version. This is optional. The signed declaration remains the source of the information.
If there is no declaration, do not create an HPF value. Detection tools and incomplete catalogue records cannot supply a missing classification.
See For developers for the JSON schema, integration guide and provisional C2PA mapping. The source files are maintained in the GitHub repository.
What the record looks like
One declaration, shown at three points in its journey. The production, company and wording in these examples are invented.
The declaration can be completed on paper, as a signed file or in the production’s own system, provided it contains the required information and signature.
The record carries what the producer declared. The organisation decides how to use it.
{
"hpf_standard_version": "0.9.3",
"hpf_released_version": "Theatrical cut",
"hpf_classification": "generative_ai"
}null and they are not no_ai.Generative AI is what a person reads. generative_ai is what a system stores. They carry the same information in two forms.
Audience display
The paperwork carries the information between organisations. Audience disclosure makes it visible to the people watching.
A distributor, broadcaster, festival or platform decides where and how to show the classification. HPF encourages them to show it but does not require a particular format.
Have a question, or a view on the draft?
If you are working out how the standard would apply to your organisation, email contact@humanprovenance.film.
The standard is a draft in public consultation until 31 October 2026. If you have feedback on the classifications, submit a response.