HUMANLEDGER

Working spec · the record

Revisions

This is a working spec, so the thinking moves. When it does, the old version stays visible, struck through and dated with the reason, instead of being edited away without a trace.

Every change to the standard gets an entry here: what it said before, what it says now, and a page explaining what changed and why. Withdrawn metrics are never deleted from the table either, because a standard that hides its retractions is not a standard.

Most revisions start as an argument in the LinkedIn group. If you think one of these was the wrong call, that is where to make the case, and the best counter-argument becomes the next revision.

What’s changed

Every revision, newest first

  1. Changed

    Part I restructured around the six conditions

    Was Part I argued from the creative industries: Act III was written from the marketing front line, and Act IV ended with the ten-row creative table as the worked example.

    Now Part I argues from work in general and closes Act IV on the six core conditions. The creative-industry material, including the original Act III and the table, sits unchanged in an annex at the end.

  2. Changed

    Principle Five clarified: measure the size of the space, never what happens inside it

    Was Premature, difficult and illegible work needs somewhere to survive until it becomes recognisable, and that describes most of the work that ever mattered.

    Now Some work only proves its worth later. Disclose how much room people have for it, and never measure what they do inside it.

  3. Changed

    Exposure defined

    Was A one-line definition that measured operator time, and so duplicated Rework.

    Now Exposure: the AI-mediated adverse events that land on people, counted by class of harm and disclosed by position relative to the system.

  4. Changed

    Judgement rate absorbed into Exposure

    Was Judgement rate as a freestanding metric: a row of the Annex A table and Part II’s central number.

    Now Judgement rate is the P2 cell of Exposure: the operator position.

  5. Changed

    Principle Three clarified: floors govern process, trends govern outcomes

    Was Floors, not targets, with nothing said about which measures can carry a floor.

    Now Procedural cells take real floors. Outcome counts are disclosed with their trend and never targeted.

  6. New

    The six conditions are a set, not a menu

    Was Six conditions, with nothing said about reading one without the others.

    Now Rework is read alongside human authorship and exposure for the same period. The core is a set, not a menu.

  7. Withdrawn

    Trust delta is withdrawn

    Was Trust delta: what happens to “trustworthy” and “authentic” as our AI content share rises.

    Now Withdrawn. It breaks Principle One.

  8. Withdrawn

    Originality distance is withdrawn

    Was Originality distance: distance from category convention, and from our own last 12 months.

    Now Withdrawn. It breaks Principle One.

  9. New

    Six conditions become the core of the standard

    Was Five principles, and ten metrics offered only as illustration.

    Now Five principles and six disclosable conditions: hours, training, junior headcount, human authorship, rework, exposure.

  10. Changed

    The standard is cross-industry

    Was A disclosure standard for the industries that manufacture attention, measuring the conditions of creative work.

    Now A disclosure standard for the conditions of human work in any organisation deploying AI. One universal core, with sector annexes on top.