Standardized Definition of AI Governance: The 15 Structural Tests

The Structural Integrity Tests define the foundational layer of the Standardized Definition of AI Governance. They establish a legally defensible inspection and enforcement protocol for determining whether AI systems remain governable under real conditions. The framework converts governance from abstract principle into verifiable action by defining how control, traceability, and accountability must operate when tested live.

The fifteen tests form the first complete operational standard for AI governance, structured to expose structural failure rather than symbolic compliance. Each test follows a fixed procedural logic—Question, Standard, What, How, and Evidence—transforming claims of oversight into reproducible proof. The framework covers four domains of structural assurance: User Agency, Traceability, Anti-Simulation, and Accountability.

Together, the tests define whether a system can be governed in practice: whether users can refuse decisions without penalty, whether harm remains traceable, whether safeguards function under adversarial conditions, and whether responsibility can be enforced across the chain of actors. Every safeguard is binary in outcome—pass, fail, or void—ensuring that results are comparable and legally admissible across regulators, jurisdictions, and time.

Version 1.0.3 formalises the canonical definitions, evidence standards, and enforcement outcomes of the Structural Tests, establishing the baseline for the Epistemic and Systemic Integrity layers that extend the framework. It is released as a non-commercial public reference standard under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence.

These standards are written for regulators, auditors, and system operators responsible for verifying whether AI governance exists in practice rather than on paper. They provide a procedural foundation for those charged with testing, evidencing, and enforcing AI accountability under live or adversarial conditions.

1.       Regulators use them to determine governability and enforceability across jurisdictions;

2.       Auditors use them to conduct reproducible inspections and validate evidence integrity;

3.       System operators use them to design, document, and prove compliance through demonstrable safeguards.

Together, these audiences form the operational chain of trust that converts governance from declaration into verifiable fact.