AI Verification LandscapeSearch

Organization · Research organization

Institute for AI Policy and Strategy

A nonpartisan think tank on AI policy; its work on AI chips includes a design and prototype for delay-based location verification.

www.iaps.ai · also called IAPS

IAPS describes itself as a nonpartisan think tank that produces policy research on the implications of AI. Its verification work concerns AI chips:

  • Location verification report. Brass and Aarne write that delay-based schemes "appear to be the most promising approach to location verification": a trusted landmark server sends the chip a challenge, and the round-trip time bounds the chip's distance from it 1. The report defines three adversary classes and estimates that a solution would cost less than $1 million to set up and maintain for several years 1. See Chip location verification.
  • Prototype brief. A May 2025 IAPS brief reports a rudimentary prototype on NVIDIA H100 chips, with a video demonstration, and estimates $2.5 million to $12.5 million a year to run 100 to 500 landmark servers 2.
  • Registry. The report recommends combining location checks with a centralized chip registry 1; see Chip registries and manufacturing records.
  • Export verification. A 2026 preprint co-written by an IAPS researcher reviews near-term methods for verifying AI chip exports, including how a regulator could run landmark-based checks and a registry of serial numbers and ownership records 3.

Mechanisms

Mechanisms this organization has designed, built, evaluated or supplied.

  • R1Chip location verification
    Timing a chip's signed replies to trusted servers at known places, so that the speed of light bounds how far away the chip can be.
  • R1Chip registries and manufacturing records
    Recording each AI chip's identity and owner from the fab onwards, and cryptographically fixing manufacturing records, so that chips can be accounted for later.

Publications

Sources this organization authored or published.

  • BB. Avellar & E. Grunewald (2026). Near-Term Verification Methods for AI Chip Exports. arXiv. RecordCited by Chip location verification; Chip registries and manufacturing records; Chips are where they are declared to be; Institute for AI Policy and Strategy
  • BA. Brass & O. Aarne (2025). Location Verification for AI Chips (issue brief). Institute for AI Policy and Strategy. RecordCited by Chip location verification; Chips are where they are declared to be; Institute for AI Policy and Strategy
  • BA. Brass & O. Aarne (2024). Location Verification for AI Chips. Institute for AI Policy and Strategy. RecordCited by Chip location verification; Chip registries and manufacturing records; Lucid sovereignty (location) certificates; Chips are where they are declared to be; Institute for AI Policy and Strategy

Sources

  1. BA. Brass & O. Aarne (2024). Location Verification for AI Chips. Institute for AI Policy and Strategy. Source recordSupports: location verification report: delay-based design, adversary classes, costs, registry recommendation
  2. BA. Brass & O. Aarne (2025). Location Verification for AI Chips (issue brief). Institute for AI Policy and Strategy. Source recordSupports: issue brief: H100 prototype and landmark running costs
  3. BB. Avellar & E. Grunewald (2026). Near-Term Verification Methods for AI Chip Exports. arXiv. Source recordSupports: co-written by an IAPS researcher: verification methods for AI chip exports