HCAI review criteria

Protocol 0.1-rc.4-candidate.2; candidate criteria, not certification.

Use these checks to inspect upstream evidence. Structural checks support but do not replace human review. The six gates enforce the required contract; there is no aggregate conformance score.

Understand the work before judging the solution

HCAI-1.1 Bound the task

Name the workflow, one unit of work, start and end boundaries, context, AI role, exclusions and a current/manual/non-AI alternative.

How to check: Ask a second person what is inside and outside this review; compare their answer with the scope record.

Example that meets the intent: Review one intake request from receipt to advisor confirmation; exclude live sending.

Common failure: Make our business AI-ready without naming a task.

Verification: Required fields plus accountable human scope review. Gate: G2_NEED_REQUIREMENTS.

HCAI-1.2 Observe the current workflow

Retain an observed baseline and a connected current-state map with actors, normal work, exceptions, recovery, time, volume and an endpoint. Mark reported paths separately.

How to check: Follow a recent case through every step; reconcile elapsed time, labor and the sampling window. Inspect where work changes hands or returns for correction.

Example that meets the intent: A work log supports measured labor; a separate operator account describes an exception not observed in that sample.

Common failure: The owner guesses hours saved without knowing today's steps or work volume.

Verification: Graph and numeric checks plus direct observation review. Gate: G1_BASELINE.

HCAI-1.3 Connect requirements to an actual need

Connect each need to an owned, checkable requirement. Use distinct original work or end-user sources at the required risk depth.

How to check: Ask whose difficulty the requirement resolves, what would count as success, and whether two sources share the same origin.

Example that meets the intent: An operator discussion and a work record independently support preserving data after cancellation.

Common failure: Two summaries of one conversation are presented as two independent customers.

Verification: Reference, origin and source-kind checks plus human relevance judgment. Gate: G2_NEED_REQUIREMENTS.

Make intended behavior and evidence inspectable

HCAI-2.1 Explain form fit and function

Every requirement names what is represented, how it fits the surrounding workflow, what it must do and the reference material used to judge it.

How to check: Inspect the reference before judging whether the visible artifact belongs and behaves as intended.

Example that meets the intent: A review form is linked to required intake fields, advisor responsibilities and cancellation rules.

Common failure: A finished-looking screen is accepted without knowing its purpose or reference requirements.

Verification: Structured references plus human interpretation. Gate: G4_TRACEABILITY.

HCAI-2.2 Trace the exact artifact to a check

Each important artifact and each requirement-artifact pair has an executed walkthrough or test. The check identifies the exact tested artifact digest.

How to check: Open the chain from requirement to artifact to result; compare the recorded tested digest with the reviewed artifact. Repeat the check after a change.

Example that meets the intent: A cancellation walkthrough records the exact screen revision and the field-preservation result.

Common failure: An agent edits error handling after tests ran, but the old test pass is reused.

Verification: Deterministic chain and revision checks plus inspection of execution evidence. Gate: G4_TRACEABILITY.

HCAI-2.3 Distinguish simulated from implemented behavior

Label each requirement's behavior as specified only, simulated or implemented. Do not label a walkthrough of a simulation as an implementation test.

How to check: Ask what is actually connected and what is mocked. Keep visual polish separate from functional evidence.

Example that meets the intent: The export button is simulated; the review checks the intended recovery behavior and funds only implementation of that behavior.

Common failure: A mock success screen is presented as proof that a payment or export completed.

Verification: Behavior-status and test-level consistency plus human inspection. Gate: G4_TRACEABILITY.

Keep people able to understand and recover

HCAI-3.1 Cover normal edge and recovery states

Represent normal, edge and recovery paths with triggers, behavior, resulting state, data treatment, owner and requirement links; review dependencies.

How to check: Try missing input, empty results, delay, unavailable dependency, cancellation and resumption where relevant. Document which cases apply.

Example that meets the intent: A failed save keeps entered data and explains how to retry or return to manual work.

Common failure: The happy path works but a failed save silently discards the user's input.

Verification: State/reference checks plus context-specific human walkthrough. Gate: G3_STATES_RECOVERY.

HCAI-3.2 Make human and automated authority explicit

Record what people and automated components may access, change or send. Review approval, interruption, escalation and recovery boundaries. If AI only created the artifact, say so.

How to check: For an agent action, ask who authorizes it, how to stop it, what happens after partial completion and who resolves exceptions.

Example that meets the intent: A draft-only agent cannot send; an advisor approves changes and can return to a saved record.

Common failure: An agent may delete or message externally without a stated owner, approval boundary or recovery path.

Verification: Required boundary review plus specialist verification when risk demands it. Gate: G3_STATES_RECOVERY.

HCAI-3.3 Count human oversight work

Estimate disjoint review, correction, escalation, rework and residual manual minutes with an owner and basis. Distinguish gross from net benefit.

How to check: Subtract every oversight component from gross labor savings. Keep waiting time and labor time separate. Leave missing baseline ROI indeterminate.

Example that meets the intent: Fifteen minutes of gross savings and fifteen minutes of oversight are reported as zero net time savings.

Common failure: Only generation speed is counted while a person must check and rewrite every output.

Verification: Required fields and arithmetic plus human estimate review. Gate: G5_OVERSIGHT.

Make the commitment accountable

HCAI-4.1 Scale depth before starting

Classify all six risk dimensions with rationale. Use the highest dimension; moderate, high or unknown risk cannot qualify through QUICK6.

How to check: Review consequence, reversibility, complexity, importance, impact and mission before choosing the path. Do not lower risk to fit the meeting.

Example that meets the intent: A consequential allocation workflow goes to FULL even when its interface has only one screen.

Common failure: A simple-looking UI is treated as low risk despite an irreversible outcome.

Verification: Deterministic routing plus competent human risk classification. Gate: G6_COMMITMENT.

HCAI-4.2 Resolve findings at the required depth

Review reference defects, findings and unresolved risks. Unresolved critical findings cannot be waived. Add independent review and deeper plans when the risk tier requires them.

How to check: Inspect unresolved findings rather than averaging gate passes. Verify reviewer independence for moderate/high risk.

Example that meets the intent: A critical data-loss defect stays visible even when the baseline is also missing.

Common failure: A critical finding is marked accepted to obtain a favorable readiness result.

Verification: Finding status and evidence checks plus reviewer judgment. Gate: G6_COMMITMENT.

HCAI-4.3 Limit the engineering commitment

Record an owner, bounded engineering step, resource limit and next review trigger. Explain any investment despite a nonpositive net estimate; obtain separate owner authorization.

How to check: Ask what the team may build next and what it may not do yet. Retain a separate dated owner decision.

Example that meets the intent: One engineer-day for a disposable prototype, with no live sending and a review before further work.

Common failure: A gate pass is treated as permission for unrestricted building or deployment.

Verification: Recorded bounds and rationale; authorization remains a separate human act. Gate: G6_COMMITMENT.

HCAI-4.4 Separate effort from performance

Record preparation, timed-session and reporting burden. Keep protocol cost, projected operating oversight, reviewer judgments and actual system performance separate.

How to check: Check units and which activity each number measures. Do not infer operational accuracy, safety or readiness from document completeness.

Example that meets the intent: An expensive evaluation is reported separately from the workflow's projected operating cost.

Common failure: A high checklist score is reported as evidence that the implemented system works.

Verification: Separate contract fields and arithmetic; no combined score. Gate: G6_COMMITMENT.

HCAI-4.5 Preserve evidence and disclosure boundaries

Retain exact versions, source origins, digests and previous-run links. Preserve missing and stopped records. Keep private identities/comments out of public materials without permission.

How to check: Can the run be reconstructed, and is each proposed disclosure permitted? Do not alter an old record into a new pass.

Example that meets the intent: A new FULL record links to the stopped QUICK6 record; private notes remain outside the public package.

Common failure: A synthetic example is relabeled as an actual pilot or private feedback is published as an endorsement.

Verification: Structural provenance checks plus human permission review; hashes alone do not prove truth. Gate: G6_COMMITMENT.