AI Attestation Glossary
Attested AI terminology provides the precise vocabulary for cryptographic governance, offline verification, and tamper-evident audit trails. These terms map directly to implementation patterns in policy artifacts, evidence bundles, and continuity chains.
- ■Enables precise communication between engineers, auditors, and buyers
- ■Maps directly to verifiable implementation specifications
- ■Provides verifiable documentation for audit workflows
What are the core verification terms?
Core terms define the fundamental objects in cryptographic governance: the evidence that proves what happened, the verification process that validates it, and the policy that governs behavior.
Evidence Bundle
Portable verification package containing artifacts, receipts, and proofs
Offline Verification
Deterministic validation without network dependency
Policy Artifact
Sealed cryptographic object encoding governance parameters
What are runtime governance terms?
Runtime terms describe how governance is enforced during execution: interception points, enforcement actions, and the receipts that prove actions were taken.
Selective Interception
Runtime boundary that evaluates and enforces policy rules
Enforcement Receipt
Signed record of governance action taken at runtime
Runtime Boundary
Point where policy evaluation and enforcement occurs
What are continuity and chain terms?
Chain terms describe how receipts link together to form tamper-evident history: the continuity chain structure, checkpoints that anchor history, and proofs that validate inclusion.
Continuity Chain
Hash-linked sequence of receipts forming tamper-evident history
Checkpoint
Periodic anchoring point preventing history rewrite
Inclusion Proof
Cryptographic proof that a receipt exists in the chain
How do these terms map to implementation?
Policy Artifact → Runtime Boundary → Receipt
The policy artifact defines rules. The runtime boundary evaluates and enforces those rules. Each enforcement action produces a signed receipt that joins the continuity chain.
Receipts + Chain → Evidence Bundle
Receipts accumulate in a hash-linked chain. When exported with the policy artifact and verification metadata, they form an evidence bundle that can be verified offline.
Evidence Bundle → Offline Verification
The evidence bundle contains everything needed for deterministic verification without network access. An auditor can validate the entire chain on an air-gapped machine.