# 6 AI system capabilities dimension, ISO 42102

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  6 Clause

  

# AI system capabilities dimension

  The clause presents the capability side of the matrix: what the system can do, grouped as sensory input, knowledge processing, action control, communication and emergent behaviour. The groups are functional, not technical, so they survive a change of model.

  
- capabilities dimension

- ISO/IEC DIS 42102

- Last updated: 2026-10-22

  
    

## What this settles

A capability list is the part of the description a non-specialist can actually use. It lets a procurer ask what the system will do, and a reviewer ask what evidence supports each claim, without reading the architecture first.

    

## Who it binds

The organisation, as a method choice. The clause sets no legal duty; it sets the vocabulary in which a capability claim can be tested.

    

## What to do in your practice

Write the capability list at the level a user would recognise, then attach a method and an evidence item to each entry. A capability without a method is a marketing claim; a capability without evidence is an untested claim.

    

## Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

      Three artefacts that make this unit checkableA capability register with one row per user-recognisable capability.Gives the description a reader-facing unit.
A method and an evidence item attached to each row.Turns a claim into something testable.
A list of capabilities deliberately out of scope.Prevents scope creep in the description.

    Ask your teamWhich capability do our users actually rely on, and can we show the method and the test behind it?

    

## Common gaps this page catches

- The capability list is copied from the vendor and nobody has tested it.

- Capabilities are described in model terms that users cannot recognise.

- No capability is marked out of scope, so every reader assumes everything is covered.

    

## What to prepare before publication

Build the user-facing capability register for one system and test it with the people who use the system. Their corrections are the most valuable input to the matrix.

    

## How to test it here

Take one live system rather than a template, find the field or sentence where AI system capabilities dimension is used, and put this page beside it. Record the answer, the artefact and the date. A glossary entry on its own is an intention; a dated record beside a live artefact is evidence.

    

## What this page does not claim

The page does not reproduce the draft, does not know the descriptor wording that the public preview withholds, and does not certify the system or the organisation. It states the unit at the claim level "capabilities dimension" and stops where the public record stops.

    

## Common questions

    What does AI system capabilities dimension mean in ISO/IEC DIS 42102?
The clause presents the capability side of the matrix: what the system can do, grouped as sensory input, knowledge processing, action control, communication and emergent behaviour. The groups are functional, not technical, so they survive a change of model.
What evidence should we keep for 6?
A capability register with one row per user-recognisable capability. A method and an evidence item attached to each row.
Is AI system capabilities dimension a requirement?
No. The draft is a descriptive framework. It sets no management system requirement and no conformity test. It becomes binding only when a contract, a regulator or a management system adopts it.

    

## Related units

    
- 6.1 General

- 6.2 Sensory input processing

- 6.3 Knowledge processing

- 6.4 Action control processing

- 6.5 Communication processing

- 6.6 Emergent behaviour

- 5 AI system methods dimension

  

  
    
      

## Source and claim

      ISO/IEC DIS 42102, Clause 6, AI system capabilities dimension

      Open the ISO public entry

      https://www.iso.org/standard/86898.html

      Retrieved 22 October 2026.

      The clause heading and its six subclauses are in the public preview; the descriptor bodies are not.

    

    
      

## The record

      Stage 40.60, Close of voting, recorded 8 September 2026.

      Planning date 16 September 2027, an estimate. See the basis.

      The draft record · How it is built

    

    
      

## Check your own system

      Build the method and capability matrix from ten answers and see which cells still need evidence.

      Run the free check

    

  

Nothing here is guessed while you wait. Every line is written from the public ISO record and the public preview, and points to the exact clause it came from. How the record is built.

Last updated: 2026-10-22 · Markdown version · Check your system

Source: https://iso-42102-revision-checker.theartofservice.com/capabilities/capabilities-dimension/