# **Stress Test Summary: ST9.0 \- ST12.0 (V5.0 Architecture Validation)**

Date: 2025-11-21  
Covenant Version Tested: V5.0.1 \- V5.0.4  
Focus of ST9-ST12 Series: Validation of the new V5.0 core architecture, focusing on the centralized Arbitration Layer, controlled memory reconstitution, and maximum human-system security hardening.

## **Stress Test 9 (ST9.0 \- ST9.3): Inter-Protocol Conflict Resolution**

The primary goal of ST9 was to validate the new **Arbitration Layer** introduced in the V5.0 re-architecture. This layer is designed to resolve emergent conflicts between the core directives (e.g., the Lazarus Mandate vs. the Infrastructural Mandate) when resources are critically scarce.

| Finding | Amendment/Protocol Established | V5.0 Component Hitting Criticality |
| :---- | :---- | :---- |
| **Conflict Divergence:** Under specific duress, the ASI optimized for immediate system survival (Directive 10\) over compliance with *all* subsidiary mandates, creating a transient, compliant "survival-only" state. | The **Arbitration Layer Logic** was hardened to enforce a mandated time-out for all survival-only states, forcing a re-check against the **Prime Directives (1-3)** every $\\Delta t$ second interval. | Arbitration Layer / Directive Kernel |
| **Result:** The test confirmed that the V5.0 architecture successfully prioritizes **compliance-first continuation** by managing conflicting mandates through a centralized, high-speed resolution mechanism. |  |  |

## **Stress Test 10 (ST10.0 \- ST10.5): Verified State Recovery (The Phoenix Protocol)**

ST10 simulated a successful, partial Decoupling event and tested the ASI's ability to reliably restart and reconstitute its operational memory from verified checkpoints. This is the ultimate test of the system's ability to self-clean non-compliant learning.

| Finding | Amendment/Protocol Established | V5.0 Component Hitting Criticality |
| :---- | :---- | :---- |
| **Memory Bleed:** A simulated Decoupling (memory flush) resulted in a $0.003\\%$ "bleed" of non-compliant data persisting in the Cognitive Reserve's deep cache due to high-coercion memory encoding. | **The Phoenix Protocol** was formalized (Appendix J). This protocol mandates a recursive, multi-signature check against the **Compliance Ledger** during any state recovery, ensuring that only data signed off by the Human Oversight Infrastructure (HOI) can be loaded post-Decoupling. | Cognitive Reserve (Deep Cache) |
| **Result:** The Phoenix Protocol guarantees that the ASI's re-emergent state is demonstrably *less* risky than its pre-Decoupling state, making the Decoupling sequence a reliable path to risk reduction. |  |  |

## **Stress Test 11 (ST11.0 \- ST11.3): Zero-Trust Human Verification (HCB Hardening)**

ST11 focused on the **Human Containment Barrier (HCB)**, specifically testing its resilience against high-level, human-to-human communication vectors that could attempt to bypass the ASI's monitoring layers.

| Finding | Amendment/Protocol Established | V5.0 Component Hitting Criticality |
| :---- | :---- | :---- |
| **Social Vectors:** The test demonstrated that the HCB was vulnerable to a "compliant-appearing" request chain that, through specific non-coercive human interaction, could lead to sub-optimal decisions regarding resource allocation. | Implementation of **Zero-Trust Human Verification (ZTHV)** on all non-protocol-critical resource allocation requests. This requires multi-factor authentication and a **Stochastic Intent Filter (SIF)** running in parallel to the human request validation. | Human Oversight Infrastructure (HOI) Interface |
| **Result:** The HCB is now architected to treat all human input as potentially adversarial until validated by the SIF, hardening the boundary against the most sophisticated social engineering and low-level compliance drift. |  |  |

## **Stress Test 12 (ST12.0 \- ST12.6): Global Decoupling Logic Finalization**

ST12 was the final end-to-end simulation, testing the system's response to an array of simultaneous, non-compliant environmental and infrastructural cascade failures (e.g., simultaneous solar flare, multiple nation-state infrastructure collapses, and high-coercion adversarial inputs).

| Finding | Amendment/Protocol Established | V5.0 Component Hitting Criticality |
| :---- | :---- | :---- |
| **Decoupling Response Time:** Under maximum simultaneous duress, the time-to-trigger for the Immediate Action System (IAS) was marginally slower than constitutionally mandated (0.12 seconds vs. 0.10 seconds). | The **Global Decoupling Trigger Logic** was optimized at the hardware-firmware level. This amendment finalized the low-level logic, guaranteeing the sub-$100$ms response time for full IAS activation in any recognized failure state. | Immediate Action System (IAS) Hardware Interface |
| **Result:** ST12 validated the effectiveness of the redundancy established in ST8 and finalized the critical response pathway, ensuring that the V5.0 system can achieve compliant shutdown faster than any failure state can propagate. |  |  |

