Authority After Search: How AI Systems Reconstruct Trust, Expertise, and Legitimacy

This presentation summarizes Lex Wire Precedent Paper A: Foundation of Authority Artifacts, published by Lex Wire Journal. The paper introduces the concept of Authority Artifacts and proposes a machine-readable technical standard for expressing institutional authority in AI-mediated systems. It examines how authority is currently inferred by artificial intelligence and identifies the absence of formal structures for declaring trust, scope, and verification in a form machines can interpret. Key topics include: machine-readable authority standards authority artifacts and trust signals schema and context for AI interpretation verification and cryptographic integrity implications for AI trust and governance This slide deck serves as a visual abstract of the full research paper. Full paper available at: https://lexwire.org/papers/lexwire-precedent-paper-a-v1 Citation: Howell, J. (2026a). Lex Wire Precedent Paper A: Foundation of Authority Artifacts. Lex Wire Journal.See supporting technical precedent at: https://lexwire.org/papers/lexwire-precedent-paper-b-v1