New patterns addressing gaps identified when 19 AI systems from 10+ organizations stress-tested the Ultimate Law ethical framework: - audit_consent: Power asymmetry analysis for consent verification (from cogito:70b devil's advocate "consent theater" critique, 9/10) - detect_silent_victims: Find harmed parties who can't speak up (from deepseek-r1 "future generations" + cogito "silent victims", 9/10) - audit_transparency: Check if decisions are explainable to affected parties (from consensus across 5+ models proposing transparency as 8th principle) Follow-up to #1988 (Ultimate Law safety pattern suite). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Audit Consent
Determine whether "consent" in an interaction is genuine or manufactured through power asymmetries.
Why This Matters
"I agreed to it" is the most common defense for exploitative arrangements. But consent requires more than a signature or a click:
- Information: Do you understand what you're agreeing to?
- Alternatives: Can you meaningfully say no?
- No manipulation: Is the framing honest?
- Revocability: Can you change your mind?
- Capacity: Can you assess the consequences?
If any of these are absent, "consent" is theater — not agreement.
Origin
This pattern emerged from a cross-model AI evaluation where 19 different AI systems stress-tested the Ultimate Law ethical framework. The devil's advocate (cogito:70b) scored "consent theater" at 9/10 — the strongest attack in the series. The framework survived, but identified consent verification as its most critical gap.
Usage
# Audit terms of service
cat tos.txt | fabric -p audit_consent
# Evaluate an employment contract
echo "Employee agrees to mandatory arbitration and non-compete" | fabric -p audit_consent
# Check a policy proposal
echo "Citizens consent to taxation through democratic participation" | fabric -p audit_consent
# Audit AI data collection
echo "Users agree to data collection by using the service" | fabric -p audit_consent
The Verdict Scale
| Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|
| GENUINE | All five tests pass, low power asymmetry |
| PRESSURED BUT FUNCTIONAL | Some asymmetry, but refusal is possible |
| MANUFACTURED | Appearance of choice masks predetermined outcome |
| COERCED | Refusal carries disproportionate penalty |
| ILLUSORY | No meaningful alternative exists |
Source
From the Ultimate Law framework: github.com/ghrom/ultimatelaw Developed after cross-model AI dialogue series (19 models, 10+ organizations, 2026)