Paper introduces Publication Authority and PAC-2026 protocol to make AI-assisted claims independently challengeable

KEY POINTS

1. The arXiv preprint (arXiv:2609.17631v1) defines Publication Authority as an exact-state, non-transferable, single-use publication capability and instantiates it in PAC-2026 (Publication-Accountability Calculus), an AIJIM protocol candidate.
2. The paper specifies a fourth bounded semantic freeze (SF-4) with six obligations governing evidence, runs, artifacts, measurement disclosure, authorization, surface correspondence, and lifecycle continuity, and reports formal and empirical evaluation across finite models (110,764 safe reachable states, 76 unsafe configurations) plus later instance-blind and same-host reproduction tests (183 and 240 observations respectively).
3. This formal protocol and Publication Authority construct aim to make AI-assisted claims falsifiable and auditable by binding publication to a single complete record, which could affect provenance, accountability, and verification practices for AI-generated or AI-assisted outputs.