Question 1

What does AI auditability mean?

Accepted Answer

Auditability means every query, the data it was grounded in, and the officer's resulting decision are logged in a complete, timestamped record that can be reviewed independently, months or years after the fact.

Question 2

Why is auditability critical for government AI systems?

Accepted Answer

Government decisions can be challenged in an appeal, an RTI request, or a legislative committee. Without an audit trail, there is no way to reconstruct or defend how a decision was reached.

Question 3

What should an AI audit trail actually contain?

Accepted Answer

At minimum: what was asked, by whom and when, which institutional records the answer was grounded in, and what the reviewing officer did with the recommendation, accept, modify or reject.

Question 4

How often should a government AI system be audited?

Accepted Answer

Continuous logging happens with every query, but a structured periodic review, typically as part of existing departmental audit cycles, verifies the audit trail itself is complete and functioning correctly.

Question 5

Can a citizen request an AI system's audit trail under RTI?

Accepted Answer

The audit trail is structured to be able to answer an RTI request about how a specific decision was reached, though what is disclosable is still governed by RTI Act exemptions and the department's own protocol.

Question 6

What is the difference between an audit trail and a compliance report?

Accepted Answer

A compliance report is a periodic summary showing a system meets its obligations. An audit trail is the underlying, granular record, every individual query and action, that a compliance report is built from.

Question 7

Who has access to the audit trail?

Accepted Answer

Access is governed by the department's own protocols and role-based access control, typically the deploying department, oversight bodies and, where legally required, auditors or the legislature.

Question 8

Is the audit trail the same as an explainability report?

Accepted Answer

Related but distinct. Explainability shows the reasoning behind one answer. The audit trail is the complete, timestamped record of every query, source and action across the system.