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ZENODO
Report . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Report . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Report . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Structural Impossibility as the Missing Safety Layer in AI Systems

Authors: Menard, Mark;

Structural Impossibility as the Missing Safety Layer in AI Systems

Abstract

This technical report introduces structural impossibility as a missing safety layer in AI systems operating under irreversible risk. The work argues that post hoc governance mechanisms such as monitoring, auditing, and human review are insufficient where actions cannot be fully remediated after execution. The paper reframes AI safety as an architectural problem of representational state space design rather than a monitoring or compliance challenge. It proposes pre execution admissibility as a necessary condition for survivable autonomy in high stakes domains. This work is intended for AI system designers, governance engineers, safety researchers, and regulators evaluating deployment thresholds for autonomous and agentic systems.

Keywords

State Space Design, AI Governance, Human Authority, Pre Execution Admissibility, Autonomous Systems, Safety Critical Systems, Agentic AI, Structural Impossibility, AI Safety, Irreversible Actions, High risk AI, Failure Prevention

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    popularity
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    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
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    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green