When AI Enters the Control Room, the Record Has to Outlive the Vendor

▤ Summary

This article argues that AI in control rooms needs an audit trail that belongs to the operator, not the vendor. It warns that critical infrastructure outlives software suppliers, so telemetry and logs stored in vendor systems can disappear or become unverifiable. The piece proposes an operator-owned, hash-chained, pre-action signed record that can be replayed offline by regulators. It also emphasizes that AI controls must prevent dangerous actions before they happen, not just document them after the fact. The overall message is that sovereign, tamper-evident recordkeeping is a core requirement for regulated OT environments.

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