How should a plant control who can see evidence used by industrial AI?
Industrial AI recommendations should respect the source system's access rules and reveal enough provenance for an authorized reviewer to check each claim.
Inventory sources and classifications
List CMMS records, historian streams, alarm logs, engineering drawings, incident reports, vendor documents and emails. Identify the owning team, retention policy, confidentiality level and access control model for each source. A search index is not a substitute for these rules.
Enforce access at retrieval time
Authenticate the requester and check permissions before exposing source content, extracted snippets, document titles or metadata that may itself be sensitive. Default to denying access when identity, group membership or inherited permissions cannot be verified. Avoid using a broad service account as a universal reader.
Preserve traceable evidence
For each answer, retain the source system, stable record identifier, version or timestamp, asset association and the specific passage or measurement used. Mark missing or stale evidence explicitly. Separate observed data from the model's interpretation and proposed action.
Review cross system leakage risks
Test whether a user who can see a pump alarm but not a restricted incident report can indirectly obtain its details through summaries, citations, autocomplete or follow up questions. Verify that revoked permissions take effect in indexes, caches and generated outputs.
Example: an equipment investigation
A technician may be allowed to view a vibration trend and approved maintenance manual but not a confidential personnel investigation. The assistant can cite the authorized trend and manual, while withholding restricted records and noting that additional evidence requires authorized review.
Keep decisions human controlled
Use role based approvals for work order creation or recommendations affecting safety, production or cost. Log the request, retrieved evidence, permission decisions and human approval. Evaluate false citations, unauthorized retrieval and stale mappings during pilot acceptance testing.
Implementation checklist
- Identify the accountable owner and affected asset or work boundary.
- Verify current technical requirements and evidence before acting.
- Set measurable acceptance criteria, approval authority and escalation triggers.
- Record exceptions, changes and the evidence used for closure.
- Review results and update controlled work processes.
Use site specific engineering judgment, approved procedures, manufacturer instructions and applicable requirements. This guidance does not replace a safety review or authorized technical approval.
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