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Capitalised Terms have the meaning defined in Table 1. Lowercase Terms have the meaning commonly defined for the context in which they are used.
A dash “-” preceding a Term in Table 1 indicates the following readings according to the font:
- Normal font: the Term in the table without a dash and preceding the one with a dash should be read before that Term. For example, “Avatar” and “- Model” will yield “Avatar Model.”
- Italic font: the Term in the table without a dash and preceding the one with a dash should be read after that Term. For example, “Avatar” and “- Portable” will yield “Portable Avatar.”
All MPAI-defined Terms are accessible online.
Table 1 – General MPAI-AIF terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Attestation Evidence | Information describing the state, configuration, or behaviour of a Process Instance, used to support trust decisions. |
| Basic Profile | A Profile of MPAI‑PTF specifying the minimum set of identity, credential, and evidence structures required for interoperable trust establishment. |
| Cryptographic Instance Identity | A structured representation of the cryptographic identity of a Process Instance, including its public key and associated metadata. |
| Evidence Item | A single element of Attestation Evidence, identified by a type defined in the Security Evidence Taxonomy. |
| Instance Credential | A signed object binding a Process Instance’s CII to a Trust Anchor, asserting identity and validity for a defined time period. |
| Interoperability Level | A level indicating the degree to which a Process Instance or trust component conforms to MPAI‑PTF and, where applicable, to MPAI Application Standards. |
| Mutual Authentication | A trust establishment process in which two Process Instances independently verify each other’s identity, credentials, and evidence. |
| Policy Binding | A structured set of requirements defining the trust conditions that a Process Instance must satisfy, including required algorithms, evidence types, attributes, and trust anchors. |
| Process Instance | An executable entity performing data processing or AI‑based functions whose identity, credentials, and evidence can be verified according to MPAI‑PTF. |
| Profile | A subset of MPAI‑PTF functionality defining specific requirements for trust establishment in particular environments. |
| Security Algorithm Taxonomy | A list of identifiers for cryptographic algorithms permitted for use in MPAI‑PTF, including signature and hash algorithms. |
| Security Evidence Taxonomy | A list of identifiers defining the types of Attestation Evidence recognised by MPAI‑PTF. |
| Security Profile | A Profile extending the Basic Profile with additional requirements for attestation, evidence freshness, and policy‑driven verification. |
| Trust Anchor | An entity whose public key is trusted to issue or validate Instance Credentials. Trust Anchors form the root of trust in MPAI‑PTF. |
| Trust Decision | The outcome of the verification pipeline applied to a TrustRequest, indicating whether the requester satisfies the responder’s Policy Binding. |
| Trust Protocol | The set of messages and procedures enabling Process Instances to exchange identity, credentials, evidence, and trust decisions. |
| TrustRequest | A message sent by a Process Instance containing its identity, credentials, and evidence for evaluation by another Process Instance. |
| TrustResponse | A message containing the result of evaluating a TrustRequest, including acceptance, rejection, or conditional trust, and optionally the responder’s identity and credentials. |
| Verification Pipeline | The ordered set of procedures used to validate identity, credentials, evidence, and policy compliance to derive a Trust Decision. |
| Full-Trust Environment | An environment in which no Process Instance is implicitly trusted; all trust must be established out-of-band through verification of identity, credentials, evidence, and policy. |
| Full-Trust Operation | Operation happening in a Full-Trust Environment. |
