SECAI Core · phase 8 of 15 · noun

AI procedure

Who does what, when, and with what evidence across the AI lifecycle to put the AI policy into practice

The Explain card

Plain English
An AI procedure spells out who does what, when, and with what evidence, across the AI lifecycle. It turns the policy's "shall" into a checklist people can actually follow.
Example
The policy says new models need approval. The procedure says: the product owner files a risk questionnaire, the AI risk analyst scores it within five days, the security lead signs off on the threat model, and the ticket plus signatures are stored in the evidence repository before deployment.
Why it matters
Attackers exploit gaps between what the policy says and what people actually do. Procedures close those gaps and produce the audit trail that proves controls ran.
Hook
Policy is the promise; procedure is the recipe.

Word knowledge

How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.

In a sentence

On the model registry, the AI procedure blocks promotion until the signed threat model and scored risk questionnaire sit in the evidence repository.

Why these words
  • AI English initialism of artificial intelligence, from Latin artificialis and intelligentia marks the named course of action as belonging to AI work rather than general operations
  • procedure French procédure, from Latin procedere, to go forward supplies the head noun, the ordered course of action the phrase names
Where it came from
Origin
English computing compound, from the initialism AI for artificial intelligence and French procédure (from Latin procedere, to go forward)
Entered the language
2010s
What changed
Procedure had meant a manner of proceeding since the 1610s, then a parliamentary method, then any documented course of action. Governance writers in the 2010s prefixed AI, and the two-word label became the ordinary name for that class of document in AI programs.
How it is spelled
Pattern
AI is two capitals with no points
Pattern
pro- keeps its Latin sense of forward
Pattern
-ure nouns from French -ure keep the silent e
Breaks the pattern
the noun phrase stays two words; a hyphen appears only when the pair modifies another noun
Breaks the pattern
procedure keeps a single e in the middle while the related verb proceed doubles it
Breaks the pattern
older prose still writes A.I. with points, but the computing phrase drops them

Spelled like

  • process
  • proceed
  • exposure
Broken into chunks
  • AI
    • AGI
    • ANI
  • pro
    • proceed
    • progress
    • produce
  • ced
    • cede
    • precede
    • recede
  • ure
    • failure
    • exposure
    • measure
What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

AI compounds

Procedure family

  • standard operating procedure
  • legal procedure
  • security procedure

Governance documents

Where it sits in the deck

Phase 8: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Frameworks

Individual controls need a governance envelope — introduce the risk and compliance structures, standards bodies, and regulations that frame AI accountability at scale.

Neighbours in this phase