Key terms.

Assessment date

The date on which practices were reviewed against the standard. A certification speaks to that date, not to every day afterwards.

Certification officer

The named person who verifies every requirement finding against your evidence, resolves every flag, decides your file and signs your certificate. It is the only term we use for this role.

EAUS

Short for the Ethicality AI Use Standard (EAUS), the standard Ethicality publishes and certifies against. A practical standard for transparent, human-led business use of AI, built on fifteen requirements grouped under three ideas: be transparent, keep a human responsible, and protect confidential information.

Ethicality Badge

The artwork a certified organization may display. Online it must link to the organization's registry entry; in print it must appear with the certificate number next to it.

Certificate number

The unique identifier on each certificate, for example EAUS-0004. Use it to find the matching registry entry.

Registry entry

The public page for a single certificate in the Ethicality registry, showing the organization, certificate number, industry, website, dates and current status.

Hallucination

When an AI system produces confident output that is simply wrong, including invented facts, sources, or citations. The standard asks how you catch this before it reaches a client.

Human in the loop

A named person who reviews AI-assisted work and carries responsibility for it. Not a policy statement, but an identifiable individual and a described review step.

Scope

The part of an organization, and the AI uses, covered by a certification. Anything outside the stated scope was not assessed.

Self-assessment

An organization checking its own practices against the standard. Useful preparation. It is not a certification and produces no badge.

Annual recertification

Certification is valid for one year and renews automatically unless cancelled. We send a reminder 30 days before the renewal date, and the card on file is charged on that date. Renewal includes a fresh assessment against the current standard.

The requirements behind these terms are set out in the Ethicality AI Use Standard (EAUS).