# AI verification proposal

A proposal built with the Proposal Explorer of the AI Verification Tech Map (https://trustbutveri.fyi/), from its records of 2026-10-08. Interactive version: https://trustbutveri.fyi/explorer/?mechanisms=M-0022,M-0013&implementations=M-0022:I-0012

How to read it: a claim is something one party wants to verify about another's AI hardware or software. A mechanism is a general technique for verifying claims; it is "aimed at" a claim when that is its direct purpose, and "supporting" when it contributes without being aimed at it. A claim is addressed when a mechanism in the proposal is aimed at it and is not excluded by the filters; addressed does not mean verified, so check that mechanism's readiness and open flaws. Readiness levels R0 to R4 describe one record's public evidence for its assessed use and are never combined. Definitions: https://trustbutveri.fyi/about/methodology/ (roles, properties and flaws) and https://trustbutveri.fyi/about/readiness/ (readiness levels).

## Filters

Filters apply to mechanisms only and describe the setting the proposal is for.

None set. Every mechanism on the map was available.

## Overview

One row per mechanism, read from its record. Open flaws: critical / significant / minor. The last three columns are the editors' reading of what the verifier sees.

| Mechanism | Readiness | Prover | Attack testing | Hardware | Open flaws | Weights | Inputs and outputs | Training data |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities / Low-trust AI compute verification system overview | R1 | Adversarial | Analysis | Retrofit device | 0 / 2 / 1 | unspecified | unspecified | unspecified |
| Network taps and certifiers | R1 | Adversarial | Analysis | Retrofit device | 0 / 5 / 0 | depends | depends | depends |

## Claims

No claims chosen.

## Mechanisms

### Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities

A retrofittable reference design in which network taps commit to all facility traffic, and air-gapped, independently sourced checkers later re-run randomly challenged records. ([Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities](https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/side-channel-suppression/))

- Assessment: selected implementation [Low-trust AI compute verification system overview](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/).
- Readiness: R1 Proposed, assessed for screening challenged records to show declared inference compute is not training.
- Claims in this proposal: none of them.
- Threat model: adversarial prover. Hardware: retrofit device. Prover cooperation: required. Attack testing: analysis. Category: Isolation & system architectures.
- What the verifier sees: model weights unspecified; inputs and outputs unspecified; training data unspecified. This Explorer has no asset-specific exposure assessment for this implementation. Check its source and deployment assumptions.

### Network taps and certifiers

Devices on a cluster's network links that copy and hash all traffic, so a verifier can later check sampled records against declared work. ([Network taps and certifiers](https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/))

- Assessment: mechanism family.
- Readiness: R1 Proposed, assessed for committing a complete record of cluster traffic, so declared inference can be checked.
- Claims in this proposal: none of them.
- Threat model: adversarial prover. Hardware: retrofit device. Prover cooperation: required. Attack testing: analysis. Category: Off-chip devices & sensors.
- What the verifier sees: model weights depends; inputs and outputs depends; training data depends. Only hashes leave the site; records picked for a challenge are opened for replay at a verification facility.


## Properties

**Built for an adversarial prover**

- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities
- Network taps and certifiers

**Flaws since mitigated**

- Verifier dictionary attacks on hashes (in Network taps and certifiers) [2]


## Attack testing

Published attempts to break a system, including those that found failures. Testing history does not establish that open flaws are resolved.

**Testing history**

- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities / Low-trust AI compute verification system overview: Analysis
- Network taps and certifiers: Analysis


## Limits

**Open significant flaws**

- Mismatches cannot be attributed to cheating or error (theoretical argument, in Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/#flaw-1) [1]. A failed hash or replay does not show whether it came from an evasion attempt, a random bit flip or an evaluation error. The author notes that if detected anomalies can plausibly be waved off as malfunctions, deterrence becomes less effective, so the parties need an agreed escalation procedure that ends in attribution.
- Inspector agents may be manipulable (open question, in Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/#flaw-3) [1]. Automated compliance screening with LLM-based inspector agents must resist prompt-injection attacks. Adversarially trained systems might hide malicious actions with steganography, which makes backdoor detection an open problem.
- Output nondeterminism leaves covert capacity (theoretical argument, in Network taps and certifiers; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/#flaw-1) [2][10]. Hashing cannot remove information hidden in the outputs themselves. The Secure Gateway Device paper estimates that about 0.1 bit per token remains even with seed-synchronized replay checks. For a 200k-GPU inference cluster at full load (2,000 tokens per GPU per second), that is about 40 Mbit/s of covert egress, enough to move a 1 TB model in under three days. The paper names this the core remaining challenge and points to deterministic replay or active scrubbing of hardware-induced entropy. An independent study found that an adversary who chooses the prompts roughly doubles the bits leaked per token under Gumbel-based inference verification; see Bounding unexplained information in outputs.

  Related mechanism: Deterministic and bit-exact inference (R3, not in the proposal). Deterministic replay is one of the two remedies the flaw's source names.

  Related mechanism: Bounding unexplained information in outputs (R2, not in the proposal). Bounds the hidden information outputs can carry by measuring what the declared computation fails to predict.
- Some links cannot be passively tapped (open question, in Network taps and certifiers; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/#flaw-2) [4][11]. Cankaya notes that copper-connected scale-up domains (for example NVL72 racks and TPU v7 cubes) are much harder to tap than fibre, and that optical budgets make passive taps impractical on 400GBASE-SR8 multimode links. Amodo found no taps advertised for 53 GBaud links as of May 2026.
- Encrypted fabrics hide plaintext from both parties (open question, in Network taps and certifiers; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/#flaw-3) [4]. Cankaya notes that with TEE-protected sessions whose keys are ephemeral and managed inside the TEE, neither the operator nor the manufacturer can recover session keys after the session, so tapped traffic could not be opened for recomputation. For other encrypted fabrics, the operator can retain keys.
- Residual side channels in simple passive setups (theoretical argument, in Network taps and certifiers; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/#flaw-4) [6]. Amodo's analysis of its own tapped prototype lists unvalidated header fields, timing of permitted traffic and variation in response formatting as residual channels, and concludes that the passive tap must be replaced by an active one.
- Completeness rests on physical monitoring left out of scope (open question, in Network taps and certifiers; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/network-taps-and-certifiers/#flaw-5) [2]. The Secure Gateway Device paper assumes the facility is physically monitored, and states that the whole architecture depends on the device being the only communication channel. It names radio emanation, power-line signalling and thermal channels as covert channels beyond that scope.

  Related mechanism: Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities (R1, in the proposal). Addresses the radio, power-line and thermal channels that network-level designs leave out.

**Family finding context**

- Context for Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; applicability depends on the finding's scope. Supply-chain implants may evade inspection (theoretical argument, in Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/side-channel-suppression/#flaw-1) [3]. Cankaya identifies malicious hardware embedded deep in purchased components as a residual risk that visual inspection and disassembly may not catch. He notes that radiographic examination under high-security standards could mitigate it.
- Context for Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; applicability depends on the finding's scope. Openings for airflow, power and optics weaken shielding (theoretical argument, in Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/side-channel-suppression/#flaw-2) [3]. Cankaya notes that keeping attenuation high while passing high-power airflow, cabling and optical links adds complexity beyond existing shielded-enclosure specifications.
- Context for Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; applicability depends on the finding's scope. Inspection assumptions may not hold (open question, in Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities; https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/side-channel-suppression/#flaw-3) [3]. The design's statistical argument assumes that visual or disassembly inspection catches every flaw that is present in a sampled unit. Cankaya is unsure whether destructive teardowns are defence-dominant or offence-dominant.

**Open minor flaws**

- Deliberate faults leak a bit each (theoretical argument, in Low-trust AI compute verification system overview; https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/#flaw-2) [1]. A malicious device can leak one bit by deliberately outputting a wrong result, which blocks a disclosure when the cross-comparison fails. The design therefore needs a pre-agreed budget of tolerated faults.

**Not yet demonstrated**

- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: R1 Proposed, assessed for screening challenged records to show declared inference compute is not training
- Network taps and certifiers: R1 Proposed, assessed for committing a complete record of cluster traffic, so declared inference can be checked


## Possible additions

Mechanisms on the map, not in the proposal, that the records connect to an unaddressed or partly addressed claim, an open flaw or a dependency. Pointers, not recommendations: each brings its own readiness level and flaws, and none is claimed to close a flaw.

- **Deterministic and bit-exact inference** (R3 In production, assessed for reproducing open-model inference from receipts in Gensyn's information-market service)
  - Bears on the open significant flaw "Output nondeterminism leaves covert capacity" in Network taps and certifiers. Deterministic replay is one of the two remedies the flaw's source names.
  - Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities waits on it: Exact replay needs complete hardware and software metadata, and the tolerable slowdown from emulation is an open question.
  - Network taps and certifiers waits on it: Nondeterministic inference leaves covert capacity in outputs that hashing cannot remove.
- **Bounding unexplained information in outputs** (R2 Demonstrated, assessed for bounding how much hidden information can leave in checked inference outputs)
  - Bears on the open significant flaw "Output nondeterminism leaves covert capacity" in Network taps and certifiers. Bounds the hidden information outputs can carry by measuring what the declared computation fails to predict.
- **Tamper evidence for verifier devices** (R2 Demonstrated, assessed for detecting probing of proposed verifier hardware, using server and electronics prototypes as evidence)
  - Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities waits on it: Tamper-evident, rapidly mass-manufacturable and retrofittable enclosures for side-channel defence are an open research question, and physical security against covert communication in every monitored data centre is challenging.
  - Network taps and certifiers waits on it: Taps and gateway devices need tamper-evident housing and physical monitoring so that traffic cannot bypass them.
- **Timed challenge-response and memory-occupation challenges** (R2 Demonstrated, assessed for detecting whether a GPU is doing other work)
  - Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities waits on it: Distinguishing one server's DRAM contents from another's by challenge-response timing, and a general challenge-response protocol for diverse data types, are open.
- **Sampled inference recomputation** (R3 In production, assessed for checking untrusted workers' activations against the declared model, prompt and precision)
  - Network taps and certifiers depends on it.


## Dependencies

**Missing prerequisites**

- Deterministic and bit-exact inference (R3 In production, assessed for reproducing open-model inference from receipts in Gensyn's information-market service), needed by Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities and Network taps and certifiers
- Sampled inference recomputation (R3 In production, assessed for checking untrusted workers' activations against the declared model, prompt and precision), needed by Network taps and certifiers
- Tamper evidence for verifier devices (R2 Demonstrated, assessed for detecting probing of proposed verifier hardware, using server and electronics prototypes as evidence), needed by Network taps and certifiers

**Shared foundations**

- Deterministic and bit-exact inference, relied on by Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities and Network taps and certifiers
- Tamper evidence for verifier devices, relied on by Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities and Network taps and certifiers

**Blockers**

- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: Empirical feasibility of passive optical splitting at 53–112 GBaud under realistic conditions is an open question. (performance & compatibility; waits on Network taps and certifiers) [1]
- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: Exact replay needs complete hardware and software metadata, and the tolerable slowdown from emulation is an open question. (performance & compatibility; waits on Deterministic and bit-exact inference) [1]
- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: Tamper-evident, rapidly mass-manufacturable and retrofittable enclosures for side-channel defence are an open research question, and physical security against covert communication in every monitored data centre is challenging. (hardware trust; waits on Tamper evidence for verifier devices) [1]
- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: A mass-manufacturable, good-enough side-channel defence, particularly power-line filtering, has not been constructed or red-teamed. (coverage & hidden compute; waits on Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities) [1]
- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: Distinguishing one server's DRAM contents from another's by challenge-response timing, and a general challenge-response protocol for diverse data types, are open. (coverage & hidden compute; waits on Timed challenge-response and memory-occupation challenges) [1]
- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: The threat model is under-developed and needs input from cybersecurity and AI threat-modelling experts. (adversarial validation) [1]
- Network taps and certifiers: No complete verification tap has been demonstrated at production frontend link rates, and on the tested CPU no hash algorithm reached line rate with minimum-size frames. (performance & compatibility) [11][12]
- Network taps and certifiers: Nondeterministic inference leaves covert capacity in outputs that hashing cannot remove. (evidence binding; waits on Deterministic and bit-exact inference) [2]
- Network taps and certifiers: Taps and gateway devices need tamper-evident housing and physical monitoring so that traffic cannot bypass them. (hardware trust; waits on Tamper evidence for verifier devices) [1][2]
- Network taps and certifiers: Radio, power-line and thermal channels are not addressed by network-level designs. (coverage & hidden compute; waits on Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities) [2]
- Network taps and certifiers: Red-teaming by specialists is called for but has not been reported. (adversarial validation) [2]


## What the verifier sees

- Model weights: shown by none; depends on the design for Network taps and certifiers; hidden by none; not involved in none; unspecified for Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities.
- Inputs and outputs: shown by none; depends on the design for Network taps and certifiers; hidden by none; not involved in none; unspecified for Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities.
- Training data: shown by none; depends on the design for Network taps and certifiers; hidden by none; not involved in none; unspecified for Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities.

## Implementations

- Side-channel suppression for isolated facilities: [AI 2040 inference-only verification stack](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/ai-2040-inference-only-verification-plan/) (R1, proposed architecture); [Low-trust AI compute verification system overview](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/) (R1, proposed architecture); [RAND secure inference data center (SIDC) design](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/rand-secure-inference-data-centers/) (R1, proposed architecture)
- Network taps and certifiers: [AI 2040 inference-only verification stack](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/ai-2040-inference-only-verification-plan/) (R1, proposed architecture); [Low-trust AI compute verification system overview](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/low-trust-compute-verification-system-overview/) (R1, proposed architecture); [SASH confidential network logger](https://trustbutveri.fyi/implementations/sash-confidential-network-logger/) (R1, research prototype)

## Sources

1. A System Overview for Near-Term, Low-Trust AI Compute Verification, N. Cankaya (2026). https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/A-system-overview-for-near-term-low-trust-AI-compute-verification.pdf
2. Fingerprinting All AI Cluster I/O Without Mutually Trusted Processors, N. Cankaya et al. (2026). https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.10724
3. Suppressing Side Channels in an Untrusted Data Center via Retrofitted Defenses, N. Cankaya (2026). https://techgov.intelligence.org/blog/suppressing-side-channels-in-an-untrusted-data-center-via-retrofitted-defenses
4. The Fundamentals and Feasibility of Secure Network Taps for Verifying AI Datacenter Use, N. Cankaya (2026). https://nacicankaya.substack.com/p/research-note-the-fundamentals-and
5. Verification Plan, R. Dean (2026). https://ai-2040.com/supplements/verification-plan
6. Fitting a Network TAP to our Inference Verification Prototype, Amodo Design (2026). https://amododesign.com/notes/2026-09-15-network-tap-inference-verification/
7. Amodo-Design/Inference-Recomputation-Prototype (GitHub repository), Amodo Design (2026). https://github.com/Amodo-Design/Inference-Recomputation-Prototype
8. inference-verification: Inference Verification Prototype, Singapore AI Safety Hub (SASH) (2026). https://github.com/sg-ai-safety-hub/inference-verification
9. Internationalising AI Verification, Singapore AI Safety Hub (SASH) (2026). https://www.aisafety.sg/research/internationalising-ai-verification
10. Adversarial Entropy Inflation Against Gumbel-Based Inference Verification, N. Kezins (2026). https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.23375
11. Network Tapping for AI Verification: A Technical Assessment, Amodo Design (2026). https://amododesign.com/notes/2026-05-03-network-tapping/
12. Network Traffic Hashing, Amodo Design (2026). https://amododesign.com/notes/2026-07-03-network-traffic-hashing/