> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.bonzai.sh/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.bonzai.sh/proof-of-contribution/proof-of-contribution.md).

# How Contribution Works

BonzAI is designed to answer:

**Who helped make this AI asset useful?**

And then:

**How should revenue and trust be shared once that asset is used?**

Proof of Contribution is the accounting layer for datasets, models, generations, companions, providers, skills, jobs, and agentic teams.

## The New Rule

BonzAI combines contribution with staked `$BONZAI`.

```
contribution proves useful work
staked BONZAI provides economic weight and trust
usage proves demand
```

That avoids two bad extremes:

* pure token holding, where passive wallets can dominate,
* pure contribution badges, where useful work has weak economic demand.

## Why It Matters

AI work is usually invisible. A prompt, caption, dataset sample, evaluation, provider session, or companion action can improve an output, but normal AI products do not remember or reward it.

BonzAI keeps the trail.

When an asset is trained, tokenized, published, sold, used by a companion, or used by a team, its provenance manifest preserves known parent contributions whenever possible.

## The BonzAI Loop

```
capture useful material
-> clean and describe it
-> stake BONZAI for publishing/trust
-> train or generate with it
-> publish, mint, or route it
-> use it in companions, companies, skills, providers, or models
-> route revenue back to the useful contributors
```

## What Can Count

* Captured text.
* Captured images.
* Video transcript cues.
* Dataset ratings.
* Redaction and license work.
* Generated media.
* Model adapters.
* Skills.
* Evaluations.
* Fine-tune votes/backing.
* Provider compute time.
* Companion actions.
* Company deliverables.

## Where Each Product Fits

| Product         | Role                                                                                                        |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| BonzAI+         | Captures useful material from the browser and turns it into dataset records                                 |
| BonzAI Desktop  | Imports records, trains, generates, mints, stakes, routes, runs companions, runs companies, and tracks work |
| BonzAI Web      | Browser product, onboarding, and public entry to the suite                                                  |
| Onchain records | Store compact proof: hashes, owners, licenses, staking utility, routes, and rewards                         |

## What BONZAI Coordinates

Staked `$BONZAI` coordinates:

* who can publish higher-value assets,
* whose curation carries more trust,
* which providers are routed work,
* which companions look more credible to hire,
* which companies can launch higher-value operations,
* who receives a separate staking bonus when a contribution route earns.

Base contribution shares are immutable after revenue reaches a route. Staking can add a bonus; it cannot take the recorded data owner's base royalty away.

The point is not to make users think about contracts first. The point is to make useful AI work ownable, traceable, and rewardable.