Working Theory · Rachel McBride
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The Human Sandwich
A checkable record. AI working over it. A person at both ends, responsible for what enters and what happens next.
Suppose an AI tells you that someone in your network could open a door. Is that a recorded fact, or the model's guess? Who checks it? Who decides whether to act?
The Human Sandwich keeps those answers visible.
The record sits at the centre. AI can read it, connect it, draft from it and suggest changes. A person decides what enters the record and what happens because of it.
The record
It has three properties:
- Checkable. You can trace each fact to its source and confirm that it is still current.
- Chosen. A person decides what belongs, what does not, and what standard a new fact must meet.
- Owned. The record stays under your control and can move with you when the technology changes.
The AI layer
AI works over the record. It can find patterns, prepare options, draft and carry out bounded tasks. Its outputs remain separate from the facts underneath them.
You can change the model or rebuild an answer without losing the record. A machine's suggestion only becomes part of the record after a person checks it.
The person
A person owns both ends. They decide what the system may use, and they remain responsible for the decision or action that follows.
This matters more as agents begin to act. An agent may propose a new fact or a next step. It cannot quietly turn its own guess into the source everyone else relies on.
What still needs work
The open problem is keeping a record verifiable over time: where each item came from, whether it changed, whether it is still current, and what should never enter it.
Mappa is where I am testing those questions in an organisation. My own AI setup tests the same design at the scale of one person.
Publication record
- Published by
- Rowan Advisory
- Led or authored by
- Rachel McBride
- Developed with
- None
- Form
- A framework
- First published
- 22 June 2026
- Edition
- v3.0, revised 10 September 2026
- Formerly
- The Verifiable Core
- Part of
- The Intelligence-Centred Firm · The hypothesis this is a design principle of
- Rights
- Quote with attribution. Do not republish in full.
Suggested citationMcBride, R. (2026) 'The Human Sandwich'. Rowan Advisory. https://ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/verifiable-core/
AI use: I use Claude Code and Codex for drafting, claim-checking against source documents, and building this page. Rachel McBride owns the stance, the argument and every claim. Full provenance, sources and AI-use disclosure →
Versions
- v2.1A provenance record added on its own page. The argument unchanged from v2.0.
- v3.0CurrentRenamed from the Verifiable Core to the Human Sandwich. The argument, the three properties and the diagram are unchanged. The address is unchanged: the URL still reads verifiable-core, so nothing already cited or linked breaks.
ip.rowanadvisory.co.nz/verifiable-core/