# Terminology

# Terminology

A protocol survives when its words mean the same thing to different people and different machines. AIEP keeps its vocabulary small and stable so the ecosystem can grow without ambiguity.

## Instruction

An instruction is any claim, directive, decision, or statement intended to be relied upon. It can be formal or informal, human-authored or machine-authored. The key is reliance: if someone might act upon it, it is an instruction in AIEP terms.

## Evidence

Evidence is the supporting artefact or set of artefacts that justify an instruction. Evidence can be:
- documents (contracts, minutes, reports)
- datasets and measurements
- logs and event records
- certificates and signatures
- media (images, video, audio) where provenance is clear

## Artefact

An artefact is a published object that can be referenced, retrieved, and validated. In AIEP, artefacts become significantly more useful when accompanied by metadata, hashes, and schemas.

## Mirror

Mirror is the AIEP publishing pattern that exposes the machine interface under `/.well-known/aiep/`. Mirror makes it possible for automated systems to retrieve knowledge from the source rather than scraping pages.

## Knowledge state

A knowledge state describes how an artefact should be treated:

- **Consensus**: strongly supported by evidence
- **Outlier**: plausible but not currently supported by the prevailing body of evidence
- **Radical outlier**: preserved but treated as low confidence until evidence appears

## Fork

A fork is a divergence in reasoning or interpretation. Forking is not failure; it is how discovery progresses. AIEP supports multiple forks by preserving competing artefacts, linking each to evidence, and allowing later recall and re-evaluation.

## Recall

Recall is the deliberate reactivation of stored ideas when new evidence appears. AIEP preserves “dead theories” as artefacts so they can be re-tested without relying on memory or folklore.

## Certification

Certification is an optional, verifiable claim that a system meets a published policy. Certification exists to protect the meaning of the phrase **“AIEP Certified.”** It does not restrict open protocol use.

## Registry and issuer

A registry is the optional enterprise layer that publishes issuer identities, policies, and revocations. An issuer is an entity authorised to issue certificates under a given policy and publish verification material.