# 4.4 Understanding AI methods and AI, ISO 42102

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  4.4 Clause

  

# Understanding AI methods and AI system capabilities

  The subclause explains the difference between a method and a capability. A method is how the system does something; a capability is what it can do. The same capability can be delivered by more than one method, and one system can hold several methods at once.

  
- concepts clause

- ISO/IEC DIS 42102

- Last updated: 2026-10-22

  
    

## What this settles

This is the distinction that makes the matrix useful. Teams that collapse it into one list lose the ability to ask the interesting question: if we change the method, which capability claim is at risk?

    

## Who it binds

The organisation, as a matter of method. The distinction is not a legal category, but it is the grammar the rest of the framework uses.

    

## What to do in your practice

For one live system, write two columns: the methods actually used and the capabilities actually claimed. Then draw the links. A capability with no method behind it is a claim without a mechanism; a method with no capability is cost without a purpose.

    

## Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

      Three artefacts that make this unit checkableA two-column method and capability sheet for one live system.Tests the distinction on real work.
A link from each claimed capability to the method that delivers it.Shows the claim has a mechanism.
A note of capabilities that no method supports.Surfaces over-claiming early.

    Ask your teamFor each capability we claim, which method delivers it, and would the claim survive a change of method?

    

## Common gaps this page catches

- The inventory lists models, not methods and capabilities, so the two are confused.

- A capability is claimed because a vendor says so, with no method recorded.

- A method is recorded without saying what capability it serves.

    

## What to prepare before publication

Run the two-column exercise on the system with the most vendor claims. It usually finds both kinds of gap in an afternoon.

    

## How to test it here

Take one live system rather than a template, find the field or sentence where Understanding AI methods and AI system capabilities 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 "concepts clause" and stops where the public record stops.

    

## Common questions

    What does Understanding AI methods and AI system capabilities mean in ISO/IEC DIS 42102?
The subclause explains the difference between a method and a capability. A method is how the system does something; a capability is what it can do. The same capability can be delivered by more than one method, and one system can hold several methods at once.
What evidence should we keep for 4.4?
A two-column method and capability sheet for one live system. A link from each claimed capability to the method that delivers it.
Is Understanding AI methods and AI system capabilities 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

    
- 4 Principles of AI system characterization based on methods and capabilities

- 5 AI system methods dimension

- 6 AI system capabilities dimension

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

  

  
    
      

## Source and claim

      ISO/IEC DIS 42102, Clause 4.4, Understanding AI methods and AI system capabilities

      Open the ISO public entry

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

      Retrieved 22 October 2026.

      The heading is in the public preview; the 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/clauses/understanding-methods-capabilities/