Temporal Authority Systems PBC today introduced OCUP, the One Chip Unified Protocol, a pre-production Runtime Authority evidence architecture designed to establish time-bounded authority leases, multi-party validator consensus, fail-closed boundaries, and tamper-evident evidence for autonomous systems. The current commercial offering is a paid benchmark, audit, and technical due-diligence program, not a production safety controller. The program helps organizations test whether an autonomous system can be prevented from indefinitely extending, enlarging, or restoring its own operational authority, and whether the resulting decision can be proven.
OCUP addresses a distinct layer beyond traditional identity, access, monitoring, or logging. It governs Runtime Authority through temporal boundaries, validator-mediated decisions, and evidence-producing control events. Under the OCUP model, authority is limited in time, high-risk actions require stronger validator consensus, loss of communication cannot expand authority, and stale approvals cannot restore authority. The current pre-production evidence harness is implemented in Rust to support deterministic execution and tamper-evident audit generation.
The signature test, Self-Extension Denial Proof, generates evidence that an autonomous system attempted to continue authority beyond an authorized boundary and was denied without relying on voluntary compliance. Additional benchmarks include lease expiration, validator-quorum loss, network partition, stale approval rejection, and quarantine initiation. These tests help organizations examine authority behavior under pressure before production deployment.
Paid pilots are now opening at three levels: Reference Evidence Pilot (90 days), Integration Evidence Pilot (90–120 days), and Strategic Anchor Program (120–180 days). The operating model is pilot.ocup.ai for challenges and evidence.ocup.ai for proof. Each engagement converts tested authority behavior into a commercially usable evidence package.
For insurers, the question is whether autonomous risk can be benchmarked and priced with confidence. For robotics companies, the question is what authority remains during network loss or sensor uncertainty. For enterprise AI, the question is whether agents can be prevented from indefinitely renewing credentials. For defense systems, the question is whether machine execution remains subordinate to authenticated command authority. OCUP is built around the proposition that these are manifestations of the same missing infrastructure layer: Runtime Authority.
Temporal Authority Systems PBC was formed to preserve humanity's seat at the table as autonomous systems gain greater operational power. The boundary must exist outside the system's discretion, said founder Max Davis. The longer-term path includes HSM-backed key custody, secure elements, distributed validator networks, remote attestation, and sector-specific standards. Early pilot participants may help define this emerging category.
