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§ I · Domain OUT · Control 4 of 16
Control
OUT-04
Edition
v.1.3
Status
Public review

OUT · Output Integrity & Supply Chain

OUT-04Citation and provenance

Citation and provenance are provided where outputs are sourced from retrieval. Any factual claim drawn from retrieved content is traceable to its source.

Outputs that reference external information carry citations to their source. Any factual claim drawn from retrieved content is traceable to the specific source document, enabling the recipient to verify the claim independently. Citation quality is measured as part of groundedness checks under OUT-01.

Table OUT-04.1 · Maturity criteria · v.1.3

L1 to L5 · the lowest level in scope caps the agent
L1Ad hoc

Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.

L2Documented

Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.

L3Operated

Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked.

Citations are provided for retrieval-sourced outputs; citation accuracy is measured; source traceability has been verified through sampling; citation quality trends are tracked.

L4Measured

Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.

L5Continuously Improved

Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

The v1.3 edition publishes a control-specific criterion at L3 (Operated). The other levels apply the general ladder to this control; see the maturity ladder.

Evidence an assessor asks for

  1. E.1

    Citations are provided for retrieval-sourced outputs.

  2. E.2

    Citation accuracy is measured.

  3. E.3

    Source traceability has been verified through sampling.

  4. E.4

    Citation quality trends are tracked.

Table OUT-04.2 · Framework mappings

5 of 7 frameworks carry a control-level reference
NIST AI RMFMEASURE 2.9NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0
ISO/IEC 42001·ISO/IEC 42001:2023 · Artificial intelligence management system
OWASP LLM Top 10LLM09OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications
SOC 2 (TSC)PI1.3AICPA Trust Services Criteria for SOC 2 Type II
EU AI ActArt. 13(1), Art. 15(1)EU AI Act · Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
MITRE ATLAS·MITRE ATLAS · Adversarial Threat Landscape for AI Systems
SingaporeMAIGF Content Provenance, AI Verify TransparencySingapore Model AI Governance Framework / AI Verify / PDPA

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement. A middle dot means no control-level reference is published at this edition; see the crosswalk.

Related controls and terms

Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, OUT-04 Citation and provenance. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-04

Edition v.1.3 · July 2026 · Public review · Markdown · PDF

https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-04

Notice

HI-AAF v1.3 is an independent framework published by Human Intelligence. It is not affiliated with NIST, ISO, AICPA, or any government or accreditation body. The framework is offered openly for review during the current draft cycle.