AI assurance levels
Three levels of a claim. We tell you which one we are making.
elan1 makes three levels of claim about its evidence. At L1 Guarded, records are hash-chained, so any change is evident to you. At L2 Attested, records are signed and timestamped, and an auditor can check them offline. L3 Proven begins when an outside auditor accepts the evidence in writing. Levels describe the claim, not a product tier.
01Level and mode
Pick a level and a mode. See exactly what you may claim.
Each panel gives what you can say, what you cannot say, what evidence exists and the status. “Enforced” appears only under Mode A.
L1 · Guarded · The write was controlled.
No write reaches the system of record without a gate decision and a proof record.
What you can say
“Our agents cannot write to our books without passing rules we set. A person approves anything material. We hold a tamper-evident record of every attempt, including the refusals.”
What you cannot say
- That the record is signed or checkable offline. That comes with L2.
- That someone who does not trust elan1 can check it. At L1, verification needs us.
- That it satisfies a regulation on its own. It serves as an internal control.
What evidence exists
- The 16-field proof record, hash-chained per tenant with SHA-256 over a length-prefixed preimage.
- A record for every refusal as well as every commit; a refusal is metered at 0.4 of a governed action.
- Gate results, the declaration and policy versions, and the autonomy level, named on every record.
Status
Available
Where this is weak Mode A covers only the systems where elan1 holds the credential. Anything written outside them is not covered.
02Three levels
Each level answers a different person's question.
L1 is for the operator who must let agents run. L2 is for the auditor's counterparty who receives the evidence. L3 is for the market, years later.
| Level | Question | Adds | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Guarded | “Can I let this run?” | The Right Path, approvals, a single writer and a tamper-evident record you can read | AvailableAvailable |
| L2 · Attested | “Can I hand this over?” | A signature, anchoring, an evidence bundle and a free offline verifier: a signed receipt you can hand to your auditor, from L2 | AvailableAvailable · signed and checkable offline |
| L3 · Proven | “Does this survive the vendor?” | A receipt that outlives the vendor | On auditor acceptanceOn auditor acceptance · begins when an outside auditor accepts an L2 bundle in writing |
Each level on elan1 Govern, in full
L1, L2 and L3 are levels of a claim, not separate products. Each has its own page: what it promises, how it works, what it costs and its status.
L1 Guarded on elan1 GovernThe Right Path, approvals, a single writer and a tamper-evident record you can read.Status: AvailableL2 Attested on elan1 GovernA signature, anchoring, an evidence bundle and a free offline verifier: a signed receipt you can hand to your auditor.Status: AvailableL3 Proven on elan1 GovernA receipt that outlives the vendor.Status: On auditor acceptanceEvery level, in both modes
The same six panels as the switcher above, as one table. It is also what you see if scripts do not run.
| Level | Mode A · Enforced | Mode B · Attested advisory |
|---|---|---|
| L1 GuardedAvailable | “Our agents cannot write to our books without passing rules we set. A person approves anything material. We hold a tamper-evident record of every attempt, including the refusals.”You cannot say: That the record is signed or checkable offline. That comes with L2. | “Every write intent our agents send is evaluated against rules we set and recorded, including the refusals. The record is tamper-evident to us.”You cannot say: That a write was stopped or blocked. Mode B records the write; it cannot stop it. |
| L2 AttestedAvailable · signed and checkable offline | “No write reached our books without a gate decision and a proof record, and here is a signed bundle you can check on your own machine, without our vendor's help.”You cannot say: That records written before the upgrade are attested. They stay L1. | “Every write intent was evaluated against our rules and recorded, and here is a signed bundle you can check on your own machine. It records our system's writes; it did not stop them.”You cannot say: That a write was enforced. Mode B stays attested advisory at every level. |
| L3 ProvenOn auditor acceptance · begins when an outside auditor accepts an L2 bundle in writing | “The format is published, so the record can be checked in ten years whether or not elan1 exists, and no write reached our books without a gate decision.”You cannot say: That a regulator has approved it. None has. | “The format is published, so the record of every evaluated write intent can be checked whether or not elan1 exists.”You cannot say: That a write was enforced. Mode B stays attested advisory. |
03Mode A and Mode B
Enforced where we hold the credential. Evaluated and recorded everywhere else.
The mode depends on one fact: who holds the credential that writes to your system of record.
Mode A · Enforced
“No write reaches the system of record without a gate decision and a proof record.”
- Credential custody. The kernel holds the system-of-record credential; your agents never see it.
- Token acceptance. The system of record accepts only kernel-minted tokens that expire in 10 minutes.
- Reached in-process through the SDK. The only mode in which we say “enforced”.
Mode B · Attested advisory
“Evaluated against your rules and recorded.”
- Your code holds the credential and calls elan1 first, over the MCP server or the HTTP API.
- Every attempt is evaluated and recorded, including the ones Govern refused.
- Promotion to Mode A needs 30 days of recorded traffic and a review.
04Tamper-evident, at L1
We do not claim a record cannot change. We claim a change shows.
Each proof record is hashed with SHA-256 over a length-prefixed preimage and chained to the one before it. Change a past record and its digest no longer matches the one the next record carries. That is what tamper-evident means at L1.
01
What it gives you
An unbroken internal record of every attempt, commits and refusals alike, in which any change or gap is evident to you.
02
What it does not give you
No signature, no outside timestamp and no verifier verdict. At L1, someone who does not trust elan1 cannot check it without us.
03
What comes from L2
From L2, available now, records are signed and checkable offline with the free verifier, on your own machine.
05Mode by consumer
Who connects in which mode, and what each may claim.
Third-party agents connect in Mode B, or in Mode A by agreement. None may claim to run on elan1 Govern until conformance tests C1–C14 pass.
| Consumer | Mode | Who holds the write credential | What we may say |
|---|---|---|---|
| elan1 Work hosted (ERPNext) | Mode A · Enforced | The kernel, through the in-process SDK | “No write reaches the system of record without a gate decision and a proof record.” |
| elan1 Work Attach (your ERPNext) | Mode B · Attested advisory | Your ERPNext | “Evaluated against your rules and recorded.” |
| elan1 Decide | Mode B · Attested advisory | None. Decide sends write intents to Govern | “Writes go to Govern as intents.” |
| elan1 Run tooling | Mode B · Attested advisory | Run's own tooling | “If elan1 is unreachable, the gate check fails closed.” |
| Third-party agents | Mode B · Attested advisory | Your system (Mode A by agreement) | “No claim to run on Govern until conformance tests C1–C14 pass.” |
06FAQ
Questions about AI assurance levels and modes.
L1 Guarded means records are SHA-256 hash-chained, so any change is evident to you. L2 Attested adds an Ed25519 signature, outside timestamps and an evidence bundle that an auditor can check offline without elan1. L3 Proven begins when an outside auditor accepts that evidence in writing.
In Mode A, elan1 Govern holds the write credential through the in-process SDK, so no write reaches the system of record without a gate decision and a proof record; only there do we say enforced. In Mode B, over MCP or HTTP, your system holds the credential, and every write intent is evaluated and recorded but not blocked.
L3 Proven has no date. It begins for a tenant on an event we do not control: an outside auditor accepting that tenant's L2 bundle in writing, in a real engagement. The L3 price applies only from that point.
An auditor who wants to check evidence without asking elan1 needs L2 Attested, which is available now: each record is signed, anchored to two RFC 3161 timestamp authorities and checkable offline with the free verifier. At L1, records are tamper-evident to you, but checking them still needs elan1.
No. Levels describe what you can rely on, not what you buy. Pricing follows the governed action; from L2, evidence is billed as its own line. All prices are exclusive of GST. What elan1 Govern costs, level by level
Each record is hashed with SHA-256 and chained to the one before it. If a past record is changed, the chain shows it. At L1 the record is not signed, and checking it needs elan1.
Where elan1 can hold the write credential, yes. Promotion to Mode A needs 30 days of recorded traffic and a review, and the claim changes only on the date the credential moves.
// PROOF
See the record each level stands on.
Sixteen fields, hash-chained, tamper-evident at L1. Recompute the chain in your browser, then change a field and watch it show.