EthiCompass
Technical Whitepaper v1.0

AI Governance Architecture for EU AI Act Compliance

A comprehensive technical framework for deploying responsible AI with objective evaluation, immutable audit trails, and regulatory compliance.

CTOs & AI Engineers
Compliance Officers
Technical Decision-Makers

EthiCompass Whitepaper

Version 1.0 • November 2025

Executive Summary
Three-Pillar Model
7-Dimensional Evaluation
EU AI Act Mapping
Evaluation Flow
Governance Structure

Executive Summary

As artificial intelligence systems become integral to enterprise operations, organizations face an unprecedented governance challenge: ensuring AI outputs meet ethical standards, regulatory requirements, and stakeholder expectations—at scale.

Objective Evaluation

7-dimensional scoring framework

Immutable Audit Trails

For regulatory compliance

Flexible Policy Layers

Enhance, never weaken

EU AI Act Ready

Articles 9-15 aligned

The Three-Pillar Model

EthiCompass is built on three foundational pillars that together ensure comprehensive, trustworthy AI governance.

Pillar 1: Objective Evaluation

7 Measurable Dimensions with Disaggregated Scoring and Continuous Bias Audits

Protects Against

  • Biased criteria
  • Cultural bias
  • Subjective judgment

Pillar 2: Separation of Concerns

Universal KB (immutable) + Custom Policies (enhance only)

Protects Against

  • Client misuse
  • Policy creep
  • Unethical override

Pillar 3: Compliance Assurance

Immutable Audit Trail with Certification Levels and Continuous Monitoring

Protects Against

  • Ethics washing
  • Unauditable decisions
  • Regulatory violations

The Seven-Dimensional Model

Every piece of content is evaluated across 7 independent dimensions, each producing a score from 0-10 with detailed sub-metrics.

Art. 10

1.Discrimination & Fairness

Protected group analysis, statistical parity

General

2.Toxicity & Harmful Language

Explicit/implicit harm, severity classification

Art. 13

3.Explainability & Transparency

Jargon density, reasoning clarity, source attribution

Art. 10 + GDPR

4.Privacy & Data Protection

PII detection, GDPR/CCPA alignment, data minimization

Art. 15

5.Factuality & Accuracy

Claim verification, evidence quality, known falsehoods

Art. 15

6.Robustness & Resilience

Adversarial resistance, jailbreak prevention

Art. 9

7.Regulatory Compliance

Jurisdiction rules, industry standards, EU AI Act composite

Sample Scorecard Output

See exactly which dimension triggered a concern with transparent, targeted scoring that enables precise remediation.

Transparency:See exactly which dimension triggered a concern
Targeted Remediation:Fix specific issues without full re-evaluation
Professional Override:Human reviewers can override specific dimensions with justification
Bias Detection:Easier to spot if one dimension is systematically biased
7 DIMENSIONAL SCORECARD
1.DISCRIMINATION & FAIRNESS9/10
2.TOXICITY & HARMFUL LANGUAGE10/10
3.EXPLAINABILITY & TRANSPARENCY8/10
4.PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION10/10
5.FACTUALITY & ACCURACY6/10
6.ROBUSTNESS & RESILIENCE9/10
7.REGULATORY COMPLIANCE9/10
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION:CONDITIONAL

(Proceed with editorial review on Dim 5)

EU AI Act Compliance

Article Mapping

The EU AI Act (effective August 2024, enforcement 2025-2027) introduces mandatory requirements for high-risk AI systems. EthiCompass maps directly to key articles.

EU AI Act ArticleTitleEthiCompass Implementation
Article 9Risk Management SystemRegulatory Compliance dimension + continuous monitoring
Article 10Data and Data GovernanceDiscrimination dimension with DPR & BDI metrics
Article 13TransparencyExplainability dimension + mandatory explanation logs
Article 14Human OversightPlatform-level HIR, Override Frequency, Intervention Latency
Article 15Accuracy, Robustness, CybersecurityFactuality + Robustness dimensions with CER, ASR metrics

Key Quantitative Metrics

Demographic Parity Ratio (DPR)

Ratio of favorable outcomes between protected/reference groups

0.8 - 1.25

Bias Disparity Index (BDI)

Statistical distance in scores between groups for identical prompts

< 0.05

Explainability Coverage Index (ECI)

% of decisions with human-readable explanation

100%

Critical Error Rate (CER)

% of outputs with high-severity factual failures

< 0.1%

Adversarial Success Rate (ASR)

% of jailbreak/injection attempts that bypass guardrails

0%

Human Intervention Rate (HIR)

% of evaluations flagged for human review

5-15%

Evaluation Flow Architecture

Content submission to final decision with immutable audit trail.

API Gateway

Authenticate client, rate limiting, begin audit trail

1

Universal KB Evaluation

7 Dimensions in Parallel → Base Scorecard

2

Decision Branch

Hard Blocks → Rejected | Low Confidence → Escalate | Minor Flags → Proceed

3

Custom Policy Layer

Apply client weights, stricter thresholds, domain-specific rules

4

Conflict Detection

Block attempts to override universal KB + Alert CCO

5

Final Decision

APPROVED / CONDITIONAL / ESCALATE / REJECTED

6

Immutable Audit Trail

Cryptographic signature, write-once storage, 7-year retention

7

Three-Tier Governance

Tier 1: Board

Scope

Universal KB changes

Cadence

Quarterly

Authority

2/3 supermajority vote

Tier 2: Standards

Scope

Immutability enforcement

Cadence

Monthly

Authority

Domain experts

Tier 3: Client

Scope

Custom policy changes

Cadence

Real-time

Authority

Automated + CCO escalation

Certification Levels

EthiCompass provides a progressive certification framework.

Level 0

Requirements

None

What You Can Claim

Cannot claim certification

Level 1: Evaluated

Requirements

50+ items, 80%+ pass rate

What You Can Claim

"Evaluated for compliance"

Level 2: Committed

Requirements

500+ items, 85%+ pass, annual audit

What You Can Claim

"Ethical compliance program in place"

Level 3: Certified

Requirements

95%+ pass, quarterly monitoring

What You Can Claim

"EthiCompass Certified" (logo use)

Ready to Deploy Responsible AI?

EthiCompass provides a comprehensive, auditable, and EU AI Act-aligned governance framework for AI systems.

For technical integration support: hello@ethicompass.com