1 pointby maskin5 hours ago1 comment
  • maskin5 hours ago
    Hi HN,

    We’re releasing MEDF (Mutable Expression Description Format) — an open document format designed for the AI era.

    The core idea is simple:

    AI-generated documents are not the problem. Unverifiable documents are.

    Instead of trying to detect or ban AI-generated text, MEDF focuses on fixing the canonical meaning of a document, while allowing its expressions (PDF, Markdown, indexes, summaries) to remain mutable.

    What MEDF does

    Documents are split into semantic blocks

    Each block and the document as a whole are hashed and signed

    Offline verification is possible (no external services required)

    Indexes and views are explicitly non-canonical and regenerable

    AI usage is optional metadata — not a requirement for validity

    What MEDF does NOT do

    No AI detection

    No watermarking

    No blockchain dependency

    No centralized trust service

    We believe this approach works better for:

    government and administrative documents

    academic papers and citations

    long-term archives in the AI era

    Repository (spec + early foundation): https://github.com/maskin/medf

    This is not a final standard — it’s a starting point. Critical feedback is very welcome.