Who’s really on the other end of that call?

With new cloning tools, this threat is no longer hypothetical. But one of the newest venture partners at the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub is pioneering verified human communications technology to protect people from potential fraud.

Inlayer provides cryptographic proof there is a human on the other line to fight AI-generated fraud and robocalls.

According to a recent article in the Cincinnati Business Courier, the company’s tech exposes and distinguishes real humans from bad actors, bots, deepfakes and automated calling systems.

Across the U.S., parents have been receiving phone calls from what sounds exactly like their child pleading for help after a car accident or arrest. In one widely reported case, a Louisville, Kentucky, mother received a frantic call from what she believed was her daughter, whose voice had been cloned. As AI scams become more sophisticated, criminals have already cashed in $893 million, according to the FBI.

"We're building something that software can’t fake: A way to prove that a real human was actually behind a call, message or post, not just authenticated at login," says James Lee, CEO of Inlayer and a graduate of the UC Carl H. Lindner College of Business. "In the AI economy, bad actors and their bots commit fraud at scale with minimal expense and no accountability.”

Inlayer recently completed the 1819 Venture Lab Accelerator program, which helps early-stage companies scale and serves as a front door into the Cincinnati Innovation District. They joined the program with proven market traction and defensible technology to address the growing need for trust and accountability in the age of AI.

By participating in the program, Inlayer gained access to UC innovation resources, venture support and grant opportunities, as well as an established network of corporate and venture partners such as Altafiber and U.S. Bank, who actively invest in the future of trusted digital infrastructure.

"Being at 1819 puts us in the middle of a community that understands the seriousness of deep tech and verified human communications," says Patrick Dahlstrom, business development manager at Inlayer.

Dahlstrom’s words rang true as Lee connected with fellow Venture Lab alum TapIn, founded by UC professor Michael Jones, who was happy to share his expertise.

“TapIn’s technology initially focused on university applications by helping students to document and verify their physical presence at volunteer activities, career fairs and in the classroom,” Jones states. “The company later expanded to guest check-ins at short-term rentals and placing orders at restaurants.” Jones is also the academic director for both the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute and the MS applied economics program.

Inlayer's emerging VHC endpoint technology validates that a real person is physically present and intentionally initiating a phone call or other form of online communication, a capability the company believes will become foundational to the future of commerce, communications and identity in the AI economy.

At a time when governments and regulators worldwide seek stronger safeguards against AI-enabled fraud and deception, Inlayer’s VHC technology was intentionally built to solve this problem. It creates cryptographic proof when an interaction occurs, attaching verifiable evidence of human presence and consent that it passes to the messaging platform.

The result is a tamper-evident, auditable record showing that a real person initiated or explicitly authorized a transaction, communication or decision, even when AI systems may later act on their behalf. More importantly, it gives service providers a simple, effective way to block or divert anything without the Inlayer token, proving there’s a directly responsible human behind it.

This makes compliance possible and automatic, aligning with mounting global regulatory pressure targeting AI-generated robocalls, from the European Union’s AI Act to domestic enforcement actions such as Operation Robocall Roundup. Organizations are facing growing pressure to demonstrate human accountability for digital actions, with billions being spent each year to detect and filter spam messages in email along with bots and deepfakes on messaging apps. While those help address the symptoms of fraud, Inlayer seeks to be the first to prevent the issue at its source.

With AI becoming embedded in everyday life, Inlayer believes trust must become part of the underlying infrastructure. Verified human communications technology provides a foundation for people, organizations and AI agents to interact with confidence, knowing that accountability begins with a verified human. This is the next layer at Inlayer.