Final Authority in AI Governance: Frontier-Provider Sovereignty and Action-Centered Deployer Governance

arXiv cs.AI · 18 hours ago

A paper examines whether AI governance authority should rest with frontier model providers or with organizations deploying AI systems in their workflows. The analysis compares governance frameworks from the EU, NIST, Singapore, Japan, and Canada, finding stronger support for distributed operational accountability centered on deployers rather than unilateral provider control. The conclusion proposes a layered approach where providers retain authority over frontier capability release but deployers gain final authority over specific high-impact actions they authorize and bear consequences for.