What this is
The Machine Limits Standard is a published specification from Machine Accountability Corporation. It defines an evidence package: the records a machine produced, salted commitments to them, a signed seal, a logged receipt, and the machine's own statement of the conditions that made those records less reliable. It also defines a reference verifier that checks a package offline and signs a report. The current edition is Draft 0.3, published November 11, 2026.
How it works
- Recordsmachine output
- Commitmentssalted hashes
- Signed sealMerkle root
- Receiptlogged time
- Verifier reportchecks V01–V13, signed
The evidence package lets a reader confirm that released records are the records the machine sealed. It also carries what the machine reported about conditions that made those records less reliable, including how far the machine monitored for each type of condition. A reference verifier checks each element and signs a report.
Scope
What it does
- Shows released records match what the machine sealed.
- Carries the machine's own statement of conditions and monitoring limits.
- Lets a reader run the check offline.
What it does not do
- It does not make a record admissible, and it does not replace a witness where testimony is required.
- It does not say that a record is true.
- It does not decide who is a qualified person or whether a release was lawful.
Documents
The standard
Draft 0.3. Appendix B lists the changes from Draft 0.2 and from Draft 0.1.
Download PDF →Read online (HTML) →
Archived copy with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.24165227 →
All versions: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.24165226 →
Reference verifier
Sample packages and test cases. Python, runs offline; includes packages that pass and packages that fail.
Download ZIP →Free license terms
For non-commercial, research, evaluation and conformance-testing use.
Read the terms →Archived editions
Draft 0.3 supersedes Draft 0.2 and Draft 0.1. Packages made under Draft 0.2 and Draft 0.3 are not accepted by each other's verifier.
Draft 0.2 (PDF) →Verifier 0.2 (ZIP) →
Draft 0.1 (PDF) →
Verifier 0.1 (ZIP) →
Status and licensing
Draft 0.3 may change without notice. Patents or patent applications may cover implementations of this standard. An implementation license is available from Machine Accountability Corporation (licensing@machineaccountability.org). Free licenses are available for non-commercial, research, evaluation and conformance-testing use; the terms are here.