AICOS®: Decision Authority Infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence Governance

This paper introduces AICOS® (Artificial Intelligence Control and Oversight System), a governance-first technological architecture designed to manage decision authority in artificial intelligence systems. While modern artificial intelligence research has focused primarily on model capability, computational performance, and data scale, the governance of AI-assisted decision processes remains an unresolved structural challenge. As AI systems become embedded in critical infrastructures such as finance, healthcare, energy systems, and public governance, the need for accountable decision mechanisms becomes increasingly important. This research proposes the concept of Decision Authority Infrastructure as a new architectural layer within artificial intelligence systems. The proposed infrastructure operates between AI models and real-world execution environments and ensures that AI-generated outputs are validated through governance constraints before influencing operational decisions. The AICOS® architecture integrates several governance mechanisms, including uncertainty thresholds, decision risk evaluation, irreversibility analysis, deterministic decision replay, and human-final authority enforcement. These mechanisms enable transparent, auditable, and institutionally aligned decision processes. Mathematically, the decision pipeline is defined as a structured transformation from data inputs to final actions under governance constraints. The framework models decision authority as a constrained optimization process and introduces formal representations for decision uncertainty, decision risk, and irreversible outcomes. The paper argues that the next phase of global artificial intelligence deployment will require governance-native infrastructure capable of ensuring safe, accountable, and traceable AI-assisted decisions. Decision Authority Infrastructure represents a foundational step toward integrating institutional authority structures directly into artificial intelligence systems. The AICOS® framework contributes a new perspective to AI governance research by proposing a technological infrastructure that bridges artificial intelligence capabilities with institutional decision authority. This work aims to stimulate further research on governance-native AI architectures and decision accountability mechanisms in advanced artificial intelligence systems.