01 / contracts
Contract-driven workflow semantics
Define steps, roles, evidence requirements, and allowed transitions before AI can act. The contract comes first, and the model must fit inside it.
Applied AI Research
From probabilistic models to verified execution.
Sentiant researches the control layers that turn model outputs into constrained, auditable workflow behaviour. Our focus is Applied AI, turning SOTA theory into: workflow contracts, source validation, deterministic state transitions, and low-latency private runtime systems that operate inside regulated environments.
Research thesis
A structured output is not the same thing as a valid decision.
Transformer models can produce convincing answers that still fail operationally. Sentiant focuses on the layers between model output and action: workflow contracts, constrained generation, source-system checks, neuro-symbolic rule enforcement, formal state transitions, and auditable runtime control.
Control layer thesis
VERIFIED PATH
Models suggest possibilities. The runtime decides what is actually allowed to happen.
AI should not improvise around policy. It should operate inside a contract that can be checked, enforced, and logged.
Verification is not decoration. It is the layer that makes private AI workflows safe enough for production use.
Execution flow
CONTROLLED
01
Model output is captured in a constrained structure, not free-form prose.
02
Structure checks validate shape, required fields, and allowed action types.
03
Rules and permissions determine whether the workflow may proceed.
04
Source-system validation checks facts, records, and evidence before advancement.
05
Escalation or approval is decided deterministically and written to the audit trail.
Core research domains
The hard problems are in the boundary between intelligence and control.
The page is intentionally not about generic AGI symbolism. It is about the systems work required to make private, regulated AI execution trustworthy in production.
02 / logic
Formal verification and control logic
Encode invariants, permissions, and escalation paths in deterministic rules so the runtime can enforce policy without ambiguity.
03 / execution
Probabilistic to deterministic execution
Constrain generation, validate structure, and convert model suggestions into permitted actions only after the control layer approves them.
04 / validation
Neuro-symbolic validation
Combine model reasoning with symbolic checks and source-of-truth lookups to reduce hallucination risk before a workflow advances.
05 / runtime
Private runtime systems
Run local inference and orchestration inside VPC, on-prem, or edge environments with hardware-aware efficiency and clear operational boundaries.
06 / evals
Evaluation and failure analysis
Measure invalid transitions, policy breaks, and regression risk with workflow-specific evals before production deployment.
How the stack behaves
Research is useful only if it survives the transition from idea to runtime.
The goal is not smarter output. The goal is less room for the model to improvise outside the boundary, with every transition captured and inspectable.
1
Capture the task as a contract
Every workflow starts with explicit rules for steps, roles, evidence, and escalation.
2
Force the model into a valid shape
Constrained outputs and schema checks keep the model inside the action space the workflow actually supports.
3
Validate against source systems
Claims are checked against records, documents, and live systems before the runtime allows progress.
4
Enforce transitions deterministically
If the rules fail, the workflow pauses or escalates. Nothing silently proceeds on a guess.
5
Write the audit trail automatically
Every accepted action, blocked action, and escalation is written as evidence, not memory.
Applied research, grounded in production
If you need workflow verification, private inference, or formal control layers, let's talk.
Sentiant is interested in the engineering edge where controlled execution, auditability, and regulated operations meet. If that is your problem space, we can map the workflow and the runtime boundary together.