EPOCHE: epistemic governance as cognition -- an architecture for certified human oversight of autonomous systems (defensive publication)

Defensive publication establishing prior art on EPOCHE (Epistemic GOVernance as Cognition), an agentic AI architecture embedding epistemic governance and certified human oversight in autonomous decision systems. Disclosed for defensive purposes to prevent third-party patenting: admission layer routing queries by epistemic type; belief ledger as append-only memory with certified provenance; conformal risk control bounding decision error; human-in-the-loop gating; pre-registration and full auditability. Earlier date of public disclosure than any competing filing is claimed under Article 54(2) EPC and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1). Scope is architectural and evidential only and does not constitute legal advice. Version 2.0 (23 October 2026): consortium and partner-name references removed; technical content unchanged.