Visibility
Disclosure of the material state being relied upon, relevant source information, current purpose, and known restriction status.
Research Map · Governing Relationship State
Eight duties, not one obligation
The paper's governance interest supports specific operations rather than absolute dominion, so the map presents them as a structure the responsible actor draws from as needed, not a sequence every case must pass through.
The eight duties
Contestability
A meaningful way for the affected person to challenge the material basis of Consequential Reliance — broader than factual correction, narrower than a right to inspect the whole system.
Provenance
Access to material provenance sufficient to distinguish human declaration, imported record, observation, and machine inference.
Revalidation
Proportionate review of a Material Predicate when an actor with Legally Relevant Control Over Reliance knows, or should recognize, it may no longer be valid.
Restriction
Prospective recognition of legally effective revocation, expiration, or dispute, without automatically requiring deletion.
Retirement
Preservation of Covered Relationship State where lawful or required, while removing its ordinary eligibility to support current Consequential Reliance.
Transition review
Destination responsibility when state transfers: an express restriction, dispute, or material contextual change can trigger further review.
Material Reconstitution safeguards
Renewed review when substantially equivalent operative state is recreated from summaries, records, or derivative state after having been corrected, restricted, or retired.
Reading the map
These duties attach to the actor with Legally Relevant Control Over Reliance — the actor with sufficient decision-making or institutional control to determine, authorize, continue, suspend, or materially alter the reliance — not automatically to whoever first stored the state. Not every duty applies in every case: the form of Revalidation should vary with consequence, and if a Material Predicate cannot presently be validated, deletion is not automatic — Restriction or Retirement may be the appropriate response instead.
Citation
Suggested citation
Preble, Micheal Charles. “Governing Relationship State: A Legal Framework for Human-Controlled AI Continuity” Available at SSRN 7396659, 2026.
Preble, Micheal Charles. “Governing Relationship State: A Legal Framework for Human-Controlled AI Continuity” Available at SSRN 7396659, 2026.