SupplemDOI:

John Swygert

January 12, 2026

---

Abstract

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly involved in the interpretation, summarization, and dissemination of scholarly knowledge, traditional markers of trust—such as peer review, journal reputation, and citation count—are no longer sufficient on their own. This booklet defines the AO (Encoded Equilibrium) Verification Method used by the Secretary Suite Index, clarifying how AI-assisted verification can be performed without asserting authority, truth, or centralized control. AO verification evaluates internal coherence, semantic stability, and resolution invariance as inspectable properties of published works.

---

1. Verification as Constraint, Not Judgment

AO verification does not determine whether a paper is “true.”
It determines whether a paper is:

• internally consistent
• semantically stable under reinterpretation
• referentially coherent with its own claims

This distinction is critical. AO evaluates structure, not belief.

---

2. Resolution Invariance

A central AO principle is resolution invariance:

A valid knowledge artifact must preserve meaning when expressed at different levels of abstraction.

Under AO:

• A claim explained to a middle-school reader
• The same claim explained to a general adult
• The same claim explained to a professional

must retain:

• identical logical dependencies
• identical causal direction
• identical semantic intent

Failure indicates ambiguity or hidden assumptions — not falsity.

---

3. Semantic Primitive Decomposition

Each work is decomposed into semantic primitives:

• definitions
• claims
• dependencies
• assumptions

AO verification checks whether:

• definitions are reused consistently
• claims do not contradict upstream premises
• dependencies are not silently altered

This process is model-agnostic and reproducible.

---

4. Verification States

The Secretary Suite Index therefore displays verification state, not verdict:

• LLM-Verified
  → coherence and resolution stability satisfied under declared AO protocol
  
• Verification In Progress
  → partial stability or unresolved dependencies identified
  
• Not Yet Verified
  → no AO-constrained analysis performed
  

This makes verification auditable, revisable, and non-final.

---

5. Decentralization and Sharding

AO verification is local by design:

• operates on individual DOIs or small dependency graphs
• does not require global consensus
• supports shard libraries and independent nodes

This prevents capture and allows parallel verification ecosystems.

---

6. Relationship to Human Review

AO does not replace:

• peer review
• domain expertise
• institutional judgment

It augments them by exposing where meaning is stable and where it collapses under inspection.

Human reviewers gain leverage; they do not lose authority.

---

7. Why AO Is Necessary Now

In an AI-driven knowledge environment:

• summaries spread faster than originals
• misinterpretation propagates instantly
• authority signals decay

AO restores structural signal — the minimum condition for trustworthy interpretation.

---

Conclusion

The AO Verification Method provides a neutral, inspectable, and decentralized way to evaluate the internal stability of knowledge artifacts without asserting truth claims or centralized authority. Within the Secretary Suite Index, AO enables verification to function as a public property of knowledge, not a private judgment.

---

References

None

---