Johnx.co/Research Notes
ResearchAbout

Subscribe to get a short note when I publish something new.

A digital garden, tended with care

Johnx.co/Research Notes
ResearchAbout

Subscribe to get a short note when I publish something new.

A digital garden, tended with care

Johnx.co/Research Notes
ResearchAbout

Post · 2026

FlexHEGs and the Location Gap

Author

This note orients the location-verification work within the AI governance conversation, reading the FlexHEG hardware-enabled governance architecture for the location gap it leaves open.

Read on this site

Purpose

Hardware-enabled governance proposals assume chips can be located, but the location-verification layer is underspecified. This note maps that gap.

Approach

A reading of the FlexHEG reports from the location-verification side, connecting their enforcement architecture to the evidence mechanisms it would need.

Status

Published note on this site.

ai-governanceflexheg

Connections

Related Notes

Location-Contingent Cryptographic Authorization Certificate Issuance for FlexHEG Devices

Forthcoming

Tying the authorization certificate a FlexHEG device requires to verified location, so an issuer can grant or withhold it according to where the hardware is.

Spatial Alignment

Active

Where an intelligent machine is shapes what it should be allowed to do, which makes location a governance lever for AI and autonomous systems.

Subscribe to get a short note when I publish something new.

A digital garden, tended with care