# 6.3 Knowledge processing, ISO 42102

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  6.3 Clause

  

# Knowledge processing

  The group covers how the system stores, retrieves, relates and infers over knowledge. That includes a model internalised from training data, an external index or database, a knowledge graph, and the combination of retrieval with generation.

  
- capabilities group

- ISO/IEC DIS 42102

- Last updated: 2026-10-22

  
    

## What this settles

Knowledge is the capability most often confused with accuracy. A system can retrieve the right document and still state the wrong conclusion, or answer fluently from a stale index. The description has to say where the knowledge lives and how current it is.

    

## Who it binds

The organisation, as a method choice. Copyright, confidentiality, records and professional duties may attach to the knowledge itself, and those need a separate legal reading.

    

## What to do in your practice

Record the knowledge sources, the refresh cadence and the authority order. For retrieval systems, record the index date and the citation behaviour. Test whether the system says "not found" when the knowledge is absent.

    

## Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

      Three artefacts that make this unit checkableA knowledge source register with refresh dates and authority order.Shows what the system knows and how current it is.
A retrieval test with a known-absent question.Proves the system can decline to answer.
A sample output with its source citation.Connects the claim to the knowledge behind it.

    Ask your teamIf the answer is not in our knowledge base, does the system say so, or does it construct something plausible?

    

## Common gaps this page catches

- The index date is unknown, so stale knowledge is served as current.

- The system never declines, because no absent-knowledge test exists.

- Sources are pooled without an authority order, so a blog can outrank a policy.

    

## What to prepare before publication

Run an absent-knowledge test and an authority-order test on the main assistant. Both are quick and both usually change the capability wording.

    

## How to test it here

Take one live system rather than a template, find the field or sentence where Knowledge processing 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 group" and stops where the public record stops.

    

## Common questions

    What does Knowledge processing mean in ISO/IEC DIS 42102?
The group covers how the system stores, retrieves, relates and infers over knowledge. That includes a model internalised from training data, an external index or database, a knowledge graph, and the combination of retrieval with generation.
What evidence should we keep for 6.3?
A knowledge source register with refresh dates and authority order. A retrieval test with a known-absent question.
Is Knowledge processing 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 AI system capabilities dimension

- 6.1 General

- 5.3 Symbolic AI

- 7.2 Relation between AI tasks, AI components, AI methods and AI capabilities

  

  
    
      

## Source and claim

      ISO/IEC DIS 42102, Clause 6.3, Knowledge processing

      Open the ISO public entry

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

      Retrieved 22 October 2026.

      The heading is in the public preview; the descriptor body is 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/knowledge-processing/