Names used without approval
Who authorized the representation? What evidence of consent existed? Who owned the correction?
A Human Signal Initiative · Visible Human
Keep a human
in the record.
The Visible Human Pledge is a public commitment to preserve named human authority, oversight, evidence, and accountability when AI participates in consequential decisions.
WHY IT MATTERS
AI incidents are not abstract.
When systems fail, someone still has to explain what was approved, what evidence existed, which controls operated, and who was accountable. The pledge makes that human responsibility explicit.
8,000+
AI incident reports documented by the AI Incident Database
The point is not fear. The point is traceability. Consequential systems need a human authority who remains visible before, during, and after the decision.
View the AI Incident Database ↗PRACTICE MATERIAL
Every failure leaves a governance question.
Examples from the source version of this page, reframed as questions operators should be able to answer.
AI crossing professional boundaries
Which use cases were permitted? Where was escalation required? Who was authorized to intervene?
Autonomous access beyond intent
What permissions existed? Which controls constrained the agent? What record of access remained?
Clinical intervention prevented harm
Where did human judgment override the system? Was that authority explicit before the incident?
THE PLEDGE
Four operating commitments.
Simple enough to state publicly. Specific enough to test when the system is under pressure.
Presence
A human authority can be named, reached, and held accountable for the decision.
Discipline
Operators distinguish signal from hype and act on evidence rather than momentum.
Accountability
Ownership does not disappear into the vendor, the model, the committee, or the workflow.
Evidence
Governance is demonstrated through auditable decisions, controls, and records that survive scrutiny.
THE VISIBLE HUMAN PLEDGE
“We pledge to govern the machine with discipline. We commit to keeping human authority visible, building governance structure before failure forces the question, and leaving evidence of what was approved, why it was approved, and who owned the outcome.”
Visible Human · A Human Signal initiative
MAKE IT VISIBLE
Your name.
Your signal.
This is not a petition. It is a public statement that human authority and accountability should remain legible when AI participates in consequential decisions.
What you are committing to
Presence · Discipline · Accountability · Evidence
✓
Your signal is visible.
Thank you for taking the Visible Human Pledge.