Founder profile
Erik Svilich
Founder and CEO of Encypher and co-chair of the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force, building the production infrastructure for content provenance in the AI era.
Jan 8, 2026
C2PA text standard published
83
claims in patent ENC0100
5
task-force partners: Google, BBC, OpenAI, Adobe, Microsoft
About
From standard to production infrastructure
Erik Svilich founded Encypher to build the production infrastructure for content provenance in the AI era. He serves as Founder and CEO, leading the company from inception through the publication of the C2PA 2.3 specification in January 2026.
Erik authored the C2PA standard for unstructured text, the first open standard defining how text content is cryptographically authenticated. It specifies invisible encoding, digital signatures, sentence-level authentication, and tamper-evident provenance chains, and was published by the C2PA on January 8, 2026. He co-chairs the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force alongside representatives from Google, BBC, OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft.
On January 7, 2026, Erik filed patent ENC0100, covering 83 claims related to granular content attribution and sentence-level provenance. The patent covers the core technical methods underlying Encypher's sentence-level provenance system.
Prior to Encypher, Erik led a digital transformation initiative that scaled a $5M business and brings experience in AI SaaS, enterprise software, and business operations. He holds a deep interest in the intersection of cryptographic proof, intellectual property law, and AI governance.
Jan 8, 2026
C2PA 2.3 text-provenance standard published
83
claims filed in patent ENC0100 (Jan 7, 2026)
5
task-force partners defining the standard
Standards authorship
The open standard for text provenance
Images and video have long carried signed provenance. Text did not, until the C2PA standard for unstructured text. Erik authored it; here is what it defines.
- 1
Invisible encoding
Manifest data carried inside the text with no visible glyphs, so proof travels with the words.
- 2
Digital signatures
A COSE signature binds the manifest to the content and reveals any tampering.
- 3
Sentence-level authentication
Verification down to individual segments as well as the whole document.
- 4
Tamper-evident chains
A provenance record that shows what changed, when, and by whom.
Author of the C2PA standard for unstructured text
Published January 8, 2026 in the C2PA 2.3 specification. Erik co-chairs the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force, and Encypher maintains the reference implementation across its API and SDKs.
Contributions
What Erik has built and shipped
Standard author
Authored the C2PA standard for unstructured text in the C2PA 2.3 specification, defining invisible text encoding, sentence-level authentication, digital signatures, and verification procedures. Published January 8, 2026.
Task Force co-chair
Co-chairs the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force, the working group that develops and maintains the text-provenance standard. Members include Google, BBC, OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft.
Reference implementation
Encypher is the reference implementation of the C2PA text-provenance standard. The API, Python SDK, TypeScript SDK, WordPress plugin, and Chrome extension all implement the standard Erik authored.
Patent ENC0100 (pending)
Filed January 7, 2026. 83 claims covering granular content attribution with Merkle tree authentication for tamper-evident documentation of text segment origins and modifications.
Writing
Articles by Erik Svilich
Connect
Reach Erik
See the standard in action
Paste, sign, and verify text provenance live. No account, no API key.