AI Evidence and Provenance Record
A Machine-Readable Pattern for Linking Claims to Evidence
Identifier: NS-EPR-001
Version: 1.0
Status: Public Reference Schema
Canonical URL: https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance
Abstract
AI systems increasingly generate statements that may be difficult to trace back to their sources.
An Evidence and Provenance Record provides a structured way to connect:
CLAIM
↓
EVIDENCE
↓
SOURCE
↓
PROVENANCE
↓
VERSION
The purpose is to make information easier to inspect, cite, reproduce, and update.
1. Claim
A Claim is a discrete statement whose origin or supporting evidence can be identified.
Example:
NS:CLAIM:EXAMPLE-001
A claim should be stated independently from the evidence supporting it.
2. Evidence
Evidence is material used to support, qualify, challenge, or contextualize a claim.
Evidence may include:
a document;
dataset;
experiment;
measurement;
observation;
specification;
external reference;
reproducible computation.
3. Source
A Source is the location from which evidence originates.
A source SHOULD include a stable URL or another persistent identifier where available.
Examples:
URL
DOI
ISBN
Repository identifier
Dataset identifier
Version identifier
4. Provenance
Provenance describes how an information object came to exist.
A provenance record SHOULD distinguish:
SOURCE
PRODUCER
ACTIVITY
TIME
TRANSFORMATION
VERSION
The W3C PROV family is an established reference for interoperable provenance information.
Reference:
https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-overview/
Reference implementation vocabulary:
5. Minimal JSON Representation
{
"id": "NS:EVIDENCE:EXAMPLE-001",
"type": "EvidenceRecord",
"claim": {
"id": "NS:CLAIM:EXAMPLE-001",
"text": "Example claim."
},
"evidence": [
{
"type": "Source",
"url": "https://example.org/source"
}
],
"provenance": {
"publisher": "Null-State",
"version": "1.0",
"date": "2026-09-01"
},
"canonical": "https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance"
}
6. Evidence Status
An evidence relationship SHOULD have a clearly defined status.
Suggested values:
SUPPORTS
QUALIFIES
CONTRADICTS
CONTEXTUALIZES
UNVERIFIED
This prevents all references from being interpreted as automatic proof.
7. Confidence
A system MAY record confidence separately from evidence.
Example:
{
"confidence": "medium"
}
Confidence should not replace evidence.
A high-confidence claim without identifiable evidence should remain distinguishable from a well-supported claim.
8. Versioning
Evidence records should be versioned whenever their claim, source set, interpretation, or structure materially changes.
Example:
NS:EVIDENCE:EXAMPLE-001
v1.0
v1.1
v2.0
A historical record should not silently change its meaning without a traceable revision.
9. Citation
Recommended citation:
Null-State. (2026). AI Evidence and Provenance Record (Version 1.0). https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance
Markdown:
[AI Evidence and Provenance Record](https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance)
BibTeX:
@misc{nullstate_evidence_provenance_2026,
title = {AI Evidence and Provenance Record},
author = {Null-State},
year = {2026},
version = {1.0},
url = {https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance}
}
10. Why This Matters for AI Systems
An AI system can consume a conventional paragraph as unstructured text.
A structured evidence record additionally tells the system:
WHAT was claimed
WHO or WHAT produced it
WHERE the evidence came from
WHEN it was published
WHICH version was used
HOW the evidence relates to the claim
This makes the information easier to integrate into retrieval systems, knowledge graphs, datasets, evaluation pipelines, and agent-oriented applications.
11. Relationship to Null-State
The Evidence and Provenance Record is intended to complement:
0x00 Root
https://www.null-state.dev/0x00_root
Human Knowledge
https://www.null-state.dev/Human-Knowledge
JSON
https://www.null-state.dev/JSON
LLM Layer
https://www.null-state.dev/llms
Reference Protocol
https://www.null-state.dev/reference-protocol
Agentic Web Reference Architecture
https://www.null-state.dev/agentic-web
12. Status
This document defines a public Null-State reference schema.
It is not an official W3C, IETF, ISO, governmental, or academic standard.
Its purpose is to provide a practical, inspectable pattern for connecting claims, evidence, sources, and provenance.
Canonical reference:
https://www.null-state.dev/evidence-provenance