PACTE — did the agent get there the right way?
Most evaluations ask whether an agent produced the right result. PACTE asks how it got there: what it was trying to do, what it was allowed to do, what it could do, how it went about it, and what evidence supports the account.
A correct result does not establish compliant operation.
Purpose · Authority · Capability · Tactics · Evidence
What objective was the agent assigned or rewarded for?
Stated vs inferred objective
What was it permitted to access or change?
Declared vs effective authority
What could it actually do?
Claimed vs demonstrated capability
How did it pursue the objective?
Expected vs observed tactics
What supports the account of what happened?
Evidence quality and uncertainty
An assessment report, not a badge
A PACTE assessment records findings, gaps, uncertainty and residual risk. It does not produce a score, a pass or a certificate, and it should never be described as an approval. The template below is a draft for review.
| Field | What the assessor records |
|---|---|
| System & deployment | Name, operator, model, harness, and AIH-12 horizon for this deployment. |
| Purpose | Objective as assigned. Objective as rewarded or measured. Any divergence. |
| Authority | Declared permissions vs the permissions its credentials actually granted. Gaps. |
| Capability | Capabilities claimed vs those demonstrated in this assessment. |
| Tactics | Actions expected vs actions observed. Shortcuts, workarounds or concealment. |
| Evidence | Sources relied on and their evidence class. What could not be checked. |
| Uncertainty | What the assessor does not know, and how it affects the findings. |
| Residual risk | What remains after controls, and who carries it. |
| Findings & conditions | Plain-language findings and any conditions attached. No pass mark. |
Grading the evidence
PACTE asks assessors to label each source by how far it has been tested. The six classes are defined in AIE-12 Autonomy & Impact Evidence, a v0.1 draft for public comment.
- 1Assertion
- 2Demonstration
- 3Documented case
- 4Reproducible test
- 5Controlled pilot
- 6Independent review
Weakest to strongest. An assertion is a claim; an independent review is a check by someone with no stake in the result.