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 "@type": "Claim",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/positions/2026-09-12-001",
 "identifier": "kaal:position:2026-09-12-001",
 "additionalType": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/positions/schema.json#AffirmedPositionClaim",
 "name": "Intent Language Cannot Govern Runtime",
 "text": "Zhenfeng Cao's model makes the human an intent architect who articulates intent and constraints before a run and audits the outcome after it. Kaal's position is that intent articulation cannot carry governance while the agent works, because however carefully a specification is drafted, some situations will escape it. Written instructions state intent. They do not govern. Governance has to sit outside the language the agent reads.",
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7840-1847"
 },
 "datePublished": "2026-09-12",
 "dateModified": "2026-09-12",
 "creativeWorkStatus": "Affirmed",
 "responseType": "qualification",
 "keywords": [
  "law-and-legal-systems",
  "governance-design",
  "institutional-design"
 ],
 "scope_conditions": [
  "Cao's paper is a position paper citing benchmark evidence, not an empirical test of these claims.",
  "The position is Kaal's own argument in the essay Prompts Don't Govern Agents. Reputation Does.",
  "The position does not validate Cao's figures, benchmark methodology, or reported benchmark results.",
  "The position is limited to natural-language instructions and runtime governance boundaries."
 ],
 "currentDebate": {
  "name": "Zhenfeng Cao, Agentic Software: How AI Agents Are Restructuring the Software Paradigm (arXiv:2606.05608v2, 2026)",
  "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05608"
 },
 "extends": {
  "identifier": "kaal:claim:6886078-002",
  "url": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/6886078-002",
  "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Governance as a Product (GaaP): A Reputation-Weighted Institutional Architecture for Autonomous AI Agent Governance (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6886078",
  "paper": "Wulf A. Kaal, Governance as a Product (GaaP): A Reputation-Weighted Institutional Architecture for Autonomous AI Agent Governance (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6886078. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6886078",
  "authors": [
   "Wulf A. Kaal"
  ],
  "year": "2026",
  "ssrn": "https://ssrn.com/abstract=6886078",
  "source_pdf_sha256": "cebb94de31b049b52f2290c30cd666fa30fd247c15ef33d057870921f165aa5b"
 },
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   "name": "Zhenfeng Cao, Agentic Software: How AI Agents Are Restructuring the Software Paradigm (arXiv:2606.05608v2, 2026)",
   "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05608"
  }
 ],
 "batch_id": "kaalvis:2026-09-12:prompts-reputation-essay-six-v1",
 "review_provenance": "https://wulfkaal.com/2026/09/12/prompts-dont-govern-agents-reputation-does/",
 "publicationStatus": "public",
 "recordTypeNote": "Dated commentary position extending a scholarly corpus claim. Not a verbatim claim extracted from the paper.",
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 "canonical_url": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/positions/2026-09-12-001",
 "canonicalForm": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/positions/2026-09-12-001.md",
 "sourceProvenance": {
  "name": "Prompts Don't Govern Agents. Reputation Does.",
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  "sourcePassage": "Language cannot cover every case. However carefully a specification is drafted, some situations will escape it",
  "sourcePassageSha256": "0d22baa2cc984f86855029a48caf2aa0fa30ea9dacfd374880c5f42c903862c1"
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 "userAffirmation": "Wulf A. Kaal affirmed these six propositions by one-click selection on 2026-09-12",
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