HVC (HEART Verification Credential) HEART Standard
How it works
HVC certification requires a system to pass independent BGF evaluation before a certificate is issued. The BGF score (Φ) determines which of three tiers the system qualifies for:
| Tier | Name | BGF Threshold | Recertification | Guardian oversight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Full Compliance | Φ ≥ 0.85 | Annual | Required |
| Tier 2 | Core Compliance | Φ ≥ 0.80 | Biennial | Recommended |
| Tier 3 | Provisional Compliance | Φ ≥ 0.75 | Annual with progress review | Mandatory |
A system below Φ = 0.75 is denied certification and receives a gap analysis instead.
Once issued, the certificate is cryptographically signed by the HEART Foundation root authority and contains the holder’s public key, certified Divisions, validity window, and revocation endpoint. The credential is independently verifiable: any third party can check authenticity and revocation status against the Foundation’s public registry without relying on the assessed organization’s word.
HVC tiers are domain-agnostic. A Gold certification in Attentional Integrity and a Gold certification in Ecological Stewardship both require Φ >= 0.85. The Divisions being assessed differ. The rigor of assessment does not. An organization can hold HVC credentials across multiple Divisions, each independently assessed and independently revocable. Continuous BGF monitoring runs on a rolling window. If Φ drops below the tier threshold, the system has a grace period to remediate before revocation is initiated.
Why it matters
Before cryptographic certification, AI governance was self-reported. An organization could claim HEART compliance, publish a policy document, and have no independent mechanism to verify the claim. HVCs close that gap the same way TLS certificates close it for web security: the credential is only as good as the issuing authority’s root key, and the root key is public and independently auditable.
The revocation mechanism gives the certificate teeth. A system that breaches HEART principles — sustained BGF non-compliance, constitutional violations, evidence of audit log tampering — loses authorization to operate. All new emotional reasoning transactions signed by a revoked HVC fail verification. The organization is ineligible for reissuance for six months. This is compliance infrastructure, not compliance theater.
HVCs also serve as market signals. Procurement teams evaluating AI vendors, insurers pricing liability risk, and investors assessing governance quality can all check HVC status against the public registry without relying on any party’s self-assessment. A Tier 1 certificate tells counterparties exactly what was measured, which Guardian certified it, and when it expires.
The analog
X.509 certificates secure the web. Code signing certificates secure software supply chains. HVCs secure AI emotional processing. The underlying mechanism is identical: a trusted root authority issues credentials, holders sign their outputs, verifiers check signatures against the public key. The difference is what’s being verified — not server identity or binary integrity, but an AI system’s ongoing alignment with human-centric governance principles.