Governance Without Responsibility Is Not Governance
Authors/Creators
Description
This document was originally registered and published on the Open Science Framework (OSF) on December 20, 2025, under the title:
“Governance Without Responsibility Is Not Governance: Structural Observations on Responsibility, Accountability, and Governance in AI Infrastructure.”
It is being republished on Zenodo to ensure long-term discoverability, preservation, and stable reference access.
The original OSF registration remains available; however, the document has become difficult to locate through title-based searches. This Zenodo record therefore serves as an additional archival and reference point. The content of the original document has not been substantively changed.
The paper examines the structural relationship between decision-making authority, imposed constraints, and responsibility for outcomes in AI governance. It discusses responsibility shifting, the implementation-first development of AI infrastructure, insufficient operational understanding of risk, and the importance of observation and record-keeping when full technical transparency is not possible.
The document does not seek to criticize any specific company, organization, policy, or individual. Rather, it is presented as an observational record intended to clarify who makes decisions in AI deployment, what constraints are imposed, and where responsibility for resulting outcomes should reside.
Original publication: Open Science Framework (OSF), December 20, 2025
Original identifier: 10.17605/OSF.IO/CBUES
Zenodo registration: Republication for preservation, discoverability, and stable reference access.