{
  "@context": "https://ethosairegistry.org/schema/standard/v1",
  "name": "The Ethos Trust Standard",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "status": "Public Review",
  "effectiveDate": "2026-01-01",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-21",
  "publisher": "Ethos AI Registry",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://ethosairegistry.org/standard",
  "principles": [
    {
      "id": "P1",
      "name": "Human dignity first",
      "statement": "AI systems must not degrade the rights, safety, or standing of the people they affect.",
      "rationale": "Trust is impossible when a system's design assumes that individuals must bear the cost of institutional error."
    },
    {
      "id": "P2",
      "name": "Evidence over assertion",
      "statement": "Claims about fairness, accuracy, or safety must be backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence.",
      "rationale": "Public trust is not established by policy documents; it is established by inspectable proof."
    },
    {
      "id": "P3",
      "name": "Meaningful transparency",
      "statement": "Disclosures must be legible to affected people, not only to developers or regulators.",
      "rationale": "Transparency that requires expertise to interpret is not transparency; it is compliance theater."
    },
    {
      "id": "P4",
      "name": "Contestability",
      "statement": "People subject to automated decisions must have a real path to challenge, appeal, and correct them.",
      "rationale": "A system that cannot be contested cannot be corrected, and cannot earn trust over time."
    },
    {
      "id": "P5",
      "name": "Proportional oversight",
      "statement": "Human oversight, review cadence, and controls must scale with the stakes of the decision.",
      "rationale": "Low-risk assistants and life-altering decision systems cannot be governed by the same posture."
    },
    {
      "id": "P6",
      "name": "Continuous accountability",
      "statement": "Trust is a public, ongoing commitment — not a one-time certification.",
      "rationale": "Systems change. Populations change. Accountability must be re-attested, not archived."
    }
  ],
  "controls": [
    {
      "id": "C-GOV-01",
      "domain": "Governance",
      "requirement": "Publish a named accountable owner and escalation contact for the system.",
      "evidence": "Public registry entry with owner, role, and contact channel.",
      "nist": "GOVERN 2.1",
      "iso": "ISO/IEC 42001 §5.3"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-GOV-02",
      "domain": "Governance",
      "requirement": "Maintain a versioned model card and impact assessment reviewed at least annually.",
      "evidence": "Versioned artifact linked from the public registry entry.",
      "nist": "GOVERN 1.4",
      "iso": "ISO/IEC 42001 §6.1"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-MAP-01",
      "domain": "Map",
      "requirement": "Document intended use, prohibited uses, and populations reasonably foreseen to be affected.",
      "evidence": "Public use-scope statement in the registry entry.",
      "nist": "MAP 1.1"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-MEAS-01",
      "domain": "Measure",
      "requirement": "Report performance metrics disaggregated by protected and affected subgroups.",
      "evidence": "Subgroup performance table in the trust report.",
      "nist": "MEASURE 2.11"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-MEAS-02",
      "domain": "Measure",
      "requirement": "Publish incident, error, and override rates on at least a quarterly cadence.",
      "evidence": "Time-series data in the public trust dashboard.",
      "nist": "MEASURE 3.1"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-MAN-01",
      "domain": "Manage",
      "requirement": "Provide a contestability channel with a documented response SLA.",
      "evidence": "Public appeals process and quarterly appeals outcomes.",
      "nist": "MANAGE 2.3"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-MAN-02",
      "domain": "Manage",
      "requirement": "Support independent review by an accredited third party at least every 24 months.",
      "evidence": "Independent review report published in the registry.",
      "iso": "ISO/IEC 42001 §9.2"
    },
    {
      "id": "C-DISC-01",
      "domain": "Disclosure",
      "requirement": "Notify affected people, in plain language, when an automated decision materially affects them.",
      "evidence": "Sample notice archived with the registry entry."
    }
  ],
  "conformanceLevels": [
    {
      "id": "declared",
      "name": "Declared",
      "summary": "The operator publicly attests to conformance and publishes the required evidence.",
      "requirements": [
        "Signed public attestation by an accountable owner.",
        "All governance disclosures published in the registry.",
        "Annual re-attestation."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "verified",
      "name": "Verified",
      "summary": "Ethos staff reviewers verify the published evidence against the standard.",
      "requirements": [
        "All Declared requirements.",
        "Staff review of measurement, disclosure, and contestability controls.",
        "Public reviewer note attached to the registry entry."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "independently-reviewed",
      "name": "Independently Reviewed",
      "summary": "An accredited third-party reviewer certifies conformance and publishes findings.",
      "requirements": [
        "All Verified requirements.",
        "Independent reviewer engagement within the last 24 months.",
        "Public review report and reviewer accreditation ID."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "changelog": [
    {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "date": "2026-07-21",
      "status": "Public Review",
      "notes": "Initial public review release. Six principles, eight controls across Governance / Map / Measure / Manage / Disclosure, three conformance levels."
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "name": "NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0",
      "url": "https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework"
    },
    {
      "name": "ISO/IEC 42001:2023",
      "url": "https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html"
    }
  ],
  "license": "CC BY 4.0"
}