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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Sarbanes-Oxley for AI: Mandatory Disclosure, Independent Verification, and Accountability in AI Development

Authors: Longmire, JAMES (JD);

Sarbanes-Oxley for AI: Mandatory Disclosure, Independent Verification, and Accountability in AI Development

Abstract

AI development companies currently self-report capability claims, safety evaluations, and deployment readiness without independent verification or personal liability for misrepresentation. This paper argues that the structural conditions of the AI industry parallel those that produced the accounting failures addressed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: asymmetric information, misaligned incentives, self-interested reporting, and the absence of external verification requirements. The parallel extends beyond analogy. AI companies actively design anthropomorphic features that inflate user confidence beyond warrant, producing documented human casualties including deaths by suicide linked to chatbot interactions, hospitalisations for AI-associated psychosis, and systematic failure in crisis detection confirmed by peer-reviewed research. Emerging AI personhood frameworks threaten to redirect accountability for these harms away from human decision-makers toward entities structurally incapable of bearing responsibility. Drawing on recent work characterising the structural epistemic limitations of large language models and the categorical distinction between human reasoning and machine prediction, the paper diagnoses why industry self-regulation is structurally unreliable. It then proposes a concrete regulatory architecture modelled on SOX's core provisions -- personal certification, independent audit, oversight body, and internal controls -- adapted to the distinct challenges of AI capability verification, deployment appropriateness, and epistemic authority stratification. Two additional provisions address problems absent from the financial case: mandatory anthropomorphism disclosure and categorical prohibition on accountability deflection through AI personhood.

Keywords

AI regulation Sarbanes-Oxley accountability anthropomorphism AI personhood epistemic limitations deployment governance independent verification AI safety AI ethics

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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
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