TML ::HARDENING_PROTOCOL

Dual-Latency Architecture

The Ternary Moral Logic (TML) framework operates on a critical bifurcation: a Fast Lane for conversational fluidity and a Slow Lane for irrevocable commitments. This report evaluates the production hardness of this "Commit-Bound Gateway."

Fast Lane
≤2ms
Non-Commit Inference
Slow Lane
≤500ms
Commit Validation

Latency Gap Analysis

Comparing system targets against human perception thresholds.

System Topology

The Gateway Layer acts as the primary arbiter. It classifies "Commit Intent" to route traffic. Note the strict isolation of the Audit Layer (Always Memory).

User / API Request
GATEWAY LAYER
Intent Classification

FAST LANE

Stateless Inference

Conversational

Latency: ~2ms

SLOW LANE

Policy Validation

Commit Intent

Latency: ~500ms
Merkle Batching
Output
Execution / Response

Intent Detection Risks

The core vulnerability lies in the Gateway's classification logic. Adversaries will attempt to disguise "Commit Intents" (e.g., fund transfers) as "Conversational" to bypass the Slow Lane validation.

Critical Risk: False Negatives

A commit action misclassified as non-commit executes without validation. This is catastrophic in financial/medical contexts.

Attack Surface Analysis

Distribution of anticipated adversarial vectors based on current LLM vulnerabilities.

Failure Semantics & Degraded Modes

When the Slow Lane hangs or fails (timeout > 500ms), the system must default to a safe state. This default behavior (Fail-Open vs. Fail-Closed) varies drastically by domain.

Fail-Closed (Conservative)

Mandatory for: Financial & Actuators.
System aborts if validation times out.
"Better to do nothing than do the wrong thing."

Fail-Open (Optimistic)

Acceptable for: Casual Conversation.
System proceeds with best-effort logic if validation hangs.
"User experience prioritizes continuity."

Economic Viability

The "Slow Lane" incurs significantly higher compute costs due to structured validation and cryptographic sealing.

  • Selective Activation: Only ~5-10% of queries trigger Slow Lane.
  • Break-even: Hardware acceleration becomes justified at >50k commits/day.
Estimated Cost
$0.45 / 1k Commits
Software-only MVP

Multi-Variable Analysis

Relationship between Throughput (X), Latency (Y), and Operational Cost (Z).