New public standard sets ten rights for people affected by automated decisions

A new free standard from Emily Hartstone lays out ten rights for people affected by machine-made decisions, along with ready-to-use procurement language for boards and institutions. The release lands as the White House withholds a completed AI evaluation framework, giving policymakers and purchasing officers something they can adopt now.

Why it matters: - The Bill of Runtime Rights gives institutions a ready-made framework for governing automated decisions without waiting for new legislation or federal guidance. - The standard focuses on human authority behind machine-initiated actions, not on limiting what machines can do. - The release is aimed at boards, councils and purchasing officers that can use procurement to change vendor requirements quickly. - The site includes a public register for organizations that adopt the standard, creating a visible list of early adopters.

What happened: - The Bill of Runtime Rights was published this week at runtimerights.org. - The standard is free for any organization to reproduce, adapt or write into policy. - Emily Hartstone, an author and founder who builds authorization infrastructure for enterprise systems, created the standard. - Hartstone said the publication timing was deliberate because the White House has confirmed it completed a voluntary framework for evaluating advanced AI models but has not published it. - The White House framework remains unpublished, and the executive order behind it classifies both the benchmarking process and the threshold for which models are covered.

The details: - The standard contains ten articles covering who authorized a decision, what reason the affected person receives, how quickly the decision can be reversed and who can contest it. - Hartstone originated the term runtime authority in 2022. - Hartstone has published three books on runtime authority and included the full articles in her fourth book, The Third Voice: Who Decides What the Machines May Do to You. - Hartstone Institute LLC published The Third Voice. - Print editions are available now, and the Kindle edition releases August 8. - The Bill of Runtime Rights includes three ready-to-use forms: a five-question checklist for boards, a procurement clause for contracts and a one-paragraph resolution for governing bodies. - The standard is available at the public standard with no permission required, and attribution is appreciated but not required. - The site’s public register of adopting organizations is currently empty. - The Third Voice is available in paperback and hardcover now. - Hartstone said, “Procurement is the fastest lever in this entire argument.”

Between the lines: - The release is framed as a practical policy tool rather than a protest document. - Hartstone is positioning procurement as the main route to adoption because institutions can change vendor demands faster than lawmakers can pass rules. - Hartstone also emphasizes support for AI, arguing that the technology has helped save her life while she has lived with leukemia. - The message is meant to separate concern over decision-making authority from rejection of the technology itself.

What’s next: - Institutions can adopt the standard immediately and add its language to contracts or board resolutions. - The public register may begin filling as organizations sign on. - The Kindle edition of The Third Voice releases August 8. - Broader use of the standard could create informal pressure for vendors to document who authorized automated actions and what recourse affected people have.

The bottom line: - Hartstone is trying to make accountability for automated decisions easy to adopt before governments finish their own AI rules.