Purpose drift
The gap between a system's stated intended purpose and what it actually does today; when the real use moves outside the stated purpose, the file defends a system the organization is no longer running. It is the finding class the attacker most often escalates to fatal, because a file cannot defend a use the system has moved outside of.
Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 3 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in AI Governance: Applied Mastery.
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
The gap between a system's stated intended purpose and what it actually does today; when the real use moves outside the stated purpose, the file defends a system the organization is no longer running. It is the finding class the attacker most often escalates to fatal, because a file cannot defend a use the system has moved outside of.
The condition where data collected under one lawful basis and stated purpose is later used for a materially different purpose without a fresh lawful basis assessment; a leading cause of failed audits and a question examiners reliably probe. (see Topic 3.1)
The gradual, often undocumented expansion of a dataset's actual use beyond the purpose it was originally, legitimately collected for, typically occurring through a series of individually small decisions rather than one deliberate choice.
Where it is taught
The exact lessons this term appears in. The first 7 topics of every program are free with a free account.
- The "we have always had this data" trap: age does not launder a dataset · Consent, Purpose, and the Law of Data, AI Data Governance: The Data Chair
- The audit rehearsal: walking an examiner through lineage without a scramble · Lineage Under Audit, AI Data Governance: The Data Chair
- Your conformity file under attack: the red team finds what you missed · Adversarial Governance, AI Governance: Applied Mastery
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.