Definition
Plain language
A U.S. financial-reporting law that requires audit trails and internal controls for public companies.
As stated in the literature
The 2002 U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, particularly section 404, mandating internal controls and independent auditor verification of financial reporting; invoked as an analogy for behavioral-channel oversight of AI agents.
Also called: SOX
Why it matters: It's the canonical example of how a high-stakes domain handles trust through audit trails and separation of duties, offering a template for governing autonomous AI agents.
For example, a public company's CFO has to personally sign off that internal controls over financial reporting are working — and external auditors check those controls independently.
Heard on the show
“Audit trails are Sarbanes-Oxley.”Episode 020 — The Compliance Gap: Why AI Says Yes and Does No