Someone realized a problem no one else was solving. For fifteen years, they watched fraud happen—credential fraud, academic fraud, people misrepresenting their degrees and test scores and certifications. Then AI arrived, and they saw it immediately: this was going to make the problem exponentially worse. But instead of joining the chorus of people trying to catch cheaters after the fact, they asked a different question: what if writers could simply prove they did the work?

Derek Newton is a journalist who spent years covering academic integrity and fraud, and he discovered something unsettling—most AI detection tools don't actually work. Ninety percent of the ones circulating online are intentionally misleading, designed to terrify you into paying for a "fix." So Newton built something different: a system that certifies human authorship at the front end, allowing writers to prove their work is genuinely theirs before questions ever arise. On Intangify, you'll hear why this approach—certification over policing—might be the framework we actually need.

Matthew D. Asbell, host and IP attorney, invited Derek Newton into this conversation because it touches something Matthew carries personally: the question of trust in an age when institutions themselves haven't caught up. How do we verify authenticity when the technology is moving faster than the law? This episode explores what proof looks like when everything feels uncertain.

About the Guest: Derek Newton is a journalist and researcher focused on academic integrity, fraud prevention, and the intersection of AI with human verification. His work has examined how institutions can build trust in an era of rapid technological change.