MSP-1 Specification

authority

The authority term indicates when a site, page, section, or entity is considered an authoritative source for a given domain, topic, or scope. It turns raw attribution into a structured trust signal for AI agents.

Category: Identity, authority & trust

Status: Normative

Version: MSP-1.0.x

1. Purpose

The authority term makes explicit when a source is speaking in an official or expert capacity, so that AI systems can:

Differentiate official vs. non-official statements.
Weight answers based on domain expertise and remit.
Resolve conflicts between multiple potential sources.

2. Normative definition

Within MSP-1, authority describes whether and how a subject (site, organization, person, document, or section) is recognized as an official or primary source for a specified domain, topic, or scope.

An authority declaration MUST:

Reference a subject (who or what is authoritative).
Describe a scope (what topic, domain, or resource boundary).
Specify a level of authority (e.g., official, expert, advisory).

3. Required fields

An MSP-1 authority object MUST contain:

subjectId — stable identifier for the subject (site, org, person, etc.).
scope — description or identifier of the domain/topic/resource.
level — authority level keyword.

Common authority levels include (non-exhaustive):

official — the subject is the primary official source.
expert — the subject is recognized as an expert source.
advisory — the subject provides informed guidance but is not official.

Recommended optional fields:

evidence — references that support the authority claim.
jurisdiction — geographic or organizational boundary, if applicable.
effectiveDate — when this authority status became valid.

4. AI interpretation rules

AI agents MUST treat authority declarations as structured hints about which sources should be preferred for certain questions or contexts, subject to cross-checking with other signals (e.g., provenance, trust).

When multiple sources conflict, agents SHOULD prioritize sources marked authority.level = "official" for the relevant scope.
In absence of an official source, agents SHOULD prefer expert over unmarked or unknown sources.
If no authority is declared, agents SHOULD treat the resource as having unspecified authority, not as untrustworthy by default.
Authority is scope-bound: agents MUST NOT assume global authority outside the declared scope.

5. Relationship to related MSP-1 terms

author — identifies who created the content; authority indicates whether they are an official or expert source for the topic.
site — can be declared authoritative for specific subject areas (e.g., policies, product documentation).
trust — aggregates multiple signals (including authority) into a higher-level trust picture.
provenance — documents the origin of information used by an authoritative source.

6. Examples

Minimal example declaring a site-level official authority:

{
  "authority": {
    "subjectId": "msp-1.org",
    "scope": "MSP-1 protocol specification",
    "level": "official"
  }
}

Enriched example for a personal expert authority:

{
  "authority": {
    "subjectId": "mark-johnson",
    "scope": "portrait and editorial photography best practices",
    "level": "expert",
    "jurisdiction": "global",
    "evidence": [
      "https://markjohnson.photo/",
      "https://photographyselect.com/"
    ]
  }
}

7. Conformance

A resource conforms to the MSP-1 authority specification when it exposes authority declarations that:

Include all required fields with valid, non-empty values.
Use authority levels consistently within the implementation.
Bind authority to explicit scopes instead of implying global authority.