Proof of Value: The Missing Metric of the AI Economy

We spent the past decade optimizing for impressions, clicks, and watch time.

Not because they meant anything, but because they were easy to measure.

AI is about to expose how shallow those metrics really are.

When models can generate infinite content, infinite engagement hacks, and infinite “attention,” the question stops being “How much was produced?” and becomes “What was the value of any of it?”

In an AI-abundant world, quantity stops mattering.

Only value matters.

And right now, the internet has no widely accepted way to measure it.

Identity tells you who someone is.

Proof of value tells you what they contribute.

Every major system in history has needed a way to measure meaningful contribution.

The AI era is no different, except the signals that used to matter are now saturated.

Views can be botted.

Likes can be faked.

Engagement can be manufactured by machines.

But value cannot.

Value looks like:

Content that teaches, helps, or sparks curiosity

Interactions that create trust or connection

Creativity that moves culture forward

Expertise verified through real outcomes

Communities strengthened by participation

Time well spent, not time merely captured.

These are the signals that will define the next era of platforms.

The shift is already happening.

Brands are realizing that paying for “reach” is meaningless if the reach is synthetic.

Creators are realizing that virality is fleeting and vulnerable to algorithm changes.

Users are exhausted by the noise and seeking depth, context, and credibility.

Value is becoming the one metric everyone can agree on, but no one has built for yet.

The future will reward people not for how loud they are, but for how real they are, and how much they contribute to the ecosystem around them.

At Up My Mojo, we think of this as moving from proof of personhood to proof of value.

Identity is the starting point.

Value is the destination.

AI made content infinite.

Value will make it meaningful again.