Judged
People and advocates for those being judged
PROPOSED DISCUSSION DRAFT — not an adopted charter
GOVERNANCE
Communities decide what is important to record. The Hukumu Project standardizes the process, internal, and external logs.
Hukumu specs represent voluntary vendor neutral internal and public tamper-evident tracking. The Hukumu Project is not an enforcement body or a barrier to responsible innovation. The people affected by AI judgments, and the organizations making them, decide together what gets recorded and what gets shared.
DOMAIN FORUMS
Three chambers in every domain
Judging
Organizations using AI to judge people
Independent / Public-Interest
Researchers, auditors, and public-interest voices
Each KU domain has a Domain Forum with these three chambers. The Forum alone ratifies its domain's DAB and DIB rules. All three chambers must approve, each by at least two-thirds, so no single side can outvote the others.
STRUCTURE
Who does what
- Domain Forums
Write and ratify each domain's DAB/DIB schedule.
- Domain Council
Two delegates from each active domain, one Judged and one Judging, to coordinate across domains.
- Technical Committee
One shared technical authority that approves common formats and conformance requirements, not disclosure policy.
- Implementation & Documentation Working Group
Maintainers who build reference code, tests, and guides. Maintainer status carries no governance vote.
- Project Advisory Board
Seven voting seats: one Judged and one Judging representative elected through the Domain Council, two Technical Committee representatives, and three Independent/Public-Interest representatives, plus a non-voting project director. There is no host or funder seat. The Board coordinates and safeguards the process; it cannot rewrite a domain's rules.
Forums ratify disclosure duties. The Technical Committee approves technical requirements. Maintainers implement and explain them. The Board coordinates.
Sponsors support. They don't decide.
Each Domain Forum aims for about three sponsoring organizations, usually sector associations. Sponsors champion adoption, recruit participants, contribute expertise and staff, and help fund the work, including participation by the people being judged. Sponsorship is not a fourth chamber: it buys no vote, no ownership, no preferred implementation, and no say over findings. Community partners and technical contributors can take part without paying anything.
Become a sponsor →PROCESS
How a standard is made
- 1Draft
- 2Chamber review
- 3Technical feasibility review
- 4Public comment (45–60 days)
- 5Responses and revisions
- 6Final technical sign-off
- 7Three-chamber ballot (14 days)
- 8Publication with dissent and version history
Every 'no' vote is recorded and answered. A failed ballot can be revised or mediated, but no board can declare it passed.
DISCLOSURE
Three layers of disclosure
Aggregate DIB
Published information about judgment processes and outcomes, limiting exposure of individual cases.
Individual DAB access
An affected person can retrieve appropriate information about their own judgment and request review, through identity-verified access.
Escrowed sensitive material
Specific material held under separate custody, released only on a defined, authorized trigger.
Hukumu itself holds none of these records.
LIMITS
What the Board cannot do
It cannot rewrite a domain's DAB/DIB schedule, declare a failed ballot passed, decide whether an individual judgment was fair, compel any organization to adopt Hukumu, or certify a vendor. Conformance to a Hukumu specification is not a guarantee of fairness, safety, or legal compliance.
THE PILOT
Starting with employment
The first Domain Forum will be Employment, covering two schedules: Job Applicant/Employer (pre-hire screening) and Employee/Employer (post-hire). Employment already has the most legal groundwork, such as rules for automated employment decision tools, so the first draft can start from real requirements. Other domains open by petition once the first ballot cycle is complete.
Join the Employment ForumFOUNDER SAFEGUARDS
During the pilot, the project director does not vote on the Advisory Board and steps out of any decision about their own role, contract, or related commercial interests. While Petoskey Research Institute hosts the project, its staff do not hold voting seats on the Board. No sponsor, incubator, or company receives a guaranteed seat or exclusive implementation right.
TAKE PART
Get involved
Whether you've been judged by an algorithm, build one, regulate one, or fund work like this, there's a place for you.