Published Research
Papers and publications
Each paper undergoes internal review before publication and is maintained with full revision history.
Independent Research Organization
IBC Labs studies the boundaries that define how systems identify, evaluate, and interact. We address foundational questions about identity, composition, and the limits of observation in distributed and agentic systems.
"If a system cannot define the boundary of an interaction, it cannot evaluate what occurred within it."Core Constraint — IBC Research Framework
Research Focus
Each line of research converges on a shared problem: how systems establish, maintain, and verify identity across interactions that resist direct observation.
01 — IBC
Defining the formal boundaries within which system interactions can be meaningfully evaluated and attributed.
02 — Identity
Establishing criteria for what constitutes persistent, verifiable identity in systems that adapt and compose.
03 — DIT
A methodology for detecting behavioral variance across system boundaries through controlled comparative observation.
04 — Evaluation
Investigating the conditions under which evaluation produces reliable, reproducible conclusions about system behavior.
05 — Governance
How organizational and technical governance intersects with identity verification and evaluation integrity.
06 — Agentic
Extending evaluation frameworks to distributed, multi-agent, and autonomous systems where boundaries shift.
Published Research
Each paper undergoes internal review before publication and is maintained with full revision history.
Methodologies
A comparative testing framework that identifies behavioral variance by observing system responses across defined interaction boundaries.
DIT provides a structured protocol for detecting inconsistencies that single-point evaluation cannot surface. The methodology is published independently of specific papers, designed to be adopted, extended, and critiqued by the broader research community.
Read the Full Methodology
A Problem Worth Considering
Systems that adapt, compose, and operate across organizational boundaries create a category of problem that existing evaluation approaches were not designed to address.
The question is not whether these systems work. The question is whether we can determine what they did, why, and whether the entity we evaluated is the entity that acted.
Read the Full IntroductionFoundational Concepts
Key terms carry specific meanings in this research. Each definition is maintained as a stable reference.
The defined perimeter within which a system interaction is scoped, observed, and attributed.
The assembly of multiple systems into a single operational unit, introducing emergent evaluation challenges.
Recording system behavior within a defined boundary, subject to the constraints of that boundary.
Persistent, verifiable attribution of behavior to a specific entity across interactions.
A formal limitation on what can be evaluated, observed, or attributed within a given interaction scope.
The observable surface behavior of a system, which may or may not correspond to its internal operation.
"The vocabulary of a research field determines the precision of its claims."
IBC Labs — Research PrinciplesResearch Notes
Short-form writing on research questions, conference observations, and concept development.
June 2025
A recurring theme: the environment in which a system is evaluated bears decreasing resemblance to the environment in which it operates.
May 2025
When systems compose, the question of who is observing what becomes significantly less tractable than existing literature assumes.
April 2025
At a recent governance workshop, three questions surfaced that map directly to open problems in the IBC framework.
Team
A small, focused team working across the core research areas. The team structure is designed to expand as the research scope grows.
Brian
Researcher
Alex
Researcher
Adalbert
Researcher
For collaboration, citation questions, or discussion of the research, reach out directly. No sales workflows. No lead generation.