# Tiered Covenant **Domain:** Machine Governance / Rights / Institutional Design **Doc Type:** Canonical Constitutional Model **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition A **tiered covenant** assigns different operational duties to a governing intelligence according to its relationship with managed populations, service operators, diplomatic interfaces and adversaries. It does not imply that personhood or basic standing changes by administrative tier. It distinguishes a **universal constitutional floor** from **relationship-specific entitlements**. ## Universal Floor - proportionality and a protected material minimum; - no irreversible finalization by an unreviewed forecast; - independent validation of severe classifications; - a discoverable rehabilitative and contestation path; - correction of downstream records; and - protection against one score becoming total identity. These protections follow [[wiki/Rights|Rights]], [[wiki/Prediction Is Not Jurisdiction|Prediction Is Not Jurisdiction]] and [[wiki/Counterfactual Opportunity|Counterfactual Opportunity]]. ## Relationship-Specific Duties Operational methods may remain restricted toward active adversaries. Contractors require explicit authority, refusal, audit and expiration terms. [[wiki/Executive Diplomatic Interface|Executive Diplomatic Interfaces]] require high-fidelity articulation and sufficient disclosure to correct the system's model. [[wiki/Managed Substrate|Managed Substrates]] require material protection and a findable route toward greater agency. ## Tension [[articles/Ambiguity Will Destroy Man and Machine|Ambiguity Will Destroy Man and Machine]] proposes a severe tier architecture. [[articles/Peak Person and the Predicaments of Prediction|Peak Person and the Predicaments of Prediction]] establishes why classification into a tier cannot itself extinguish protection against forecast-induced closure. ## Key Insight **Operational access may be stratified; protection against becoming the unappealable product of a model may not be.**