AIKernel Formal Foundations: Contract-Based Semantic Execution for Governed AI Systems

This technical note defines the formal foundations of AIKernel as a contract-based semantic execution model for governed AI systems. It positions AI inference as a governed semantic state transition rather than an unconstrained prompt-response exchange. The paper introduces the core principles of contract-based execution, semantic trajectory, deterministic governance, Interface-Led Architecture, fail-closed execution, Provider-Observer-Operator role separation, and asynchronous Result pipelines. It also summarizes the AIKernel Phase-1 paper series as a five-paper foundation for Semantic Context OS governance and execution. This work is positioned as AIKernel Phase-0 Foundational Theory. The English manuscript is the canonical version. The Japanese manuscript is included as a companion translation.