Insights / 05

AI changes not only how quickly software is produced, but how complete human implementation knowledge can reasonably remain.

Independent software assuranceSM / 05.32

SecondMark position

The answer is not to reject machine-produced software. It is to strengthen provenance, architecture, verification, review, qualification, and release identity as one controlled process.

The examination is bounded to defined claims, a versioned system, and evidence that can be traced to the state under review. Any material exclusion or uncertainty remains visible in the conclusion.

01

Core questions

What the examination needs to establish.

  1. 01

    What knowledge must remain human-owned?

  2. 02

    How can generated implementation remain traceable?

  3. 03

    Which verification is independent of the generation process?

  4. 04

    How is the qualified artifact preserved through release?

02

Evidence model

Evidence is assembled around the claim—not the folder structure.

01

Explicit definitions

Collected, attributed, challenged, and connected to the exact system boundary under examination.

02

Reasoned assurance principles

Collected, attributed, challenged, and connected to the exact system boundary under examination.

03

Practical system implications

Collected, attributed, challenged, and connected to the exact system boundary under examination.

04

Boundaries and counterexamples

Collected, attributed, challenged, and connected to the exact system boundary under examination.

Intended outcome

A practical assurance frame for scaling machine intelligence without scaling unsupported confidence.

A sharper decision frameQuestions for system stewardsPractical next steps
03

Professional boundary

What an opinion does—and does not—mean.

It provides

A traceable independent conclusion on defined claims, grounded in the evidence and system state examined.

It does not provide

A guarantee that failure is impossible, a permanent certification, or a conclusion beyond the stated scope and validity conditions.