Clause 4: Abbreviated terms
The clause lists two abbreviations: AI for artificial intelligence and ML for machine learning.
What clause 4 is
The clause lists two abbreviations: AI for artificial intelligence and ML for machine learning. Nothing else is abbreviated in the model.
What the 2023 edition said
The same two abbreviations.
What the second edition changes
No change recorded in the public draft.
The FDIS text is not public. The change line above is read from the public draft, which is not the FDIS and may differ. No clause level diff is invented here. The ISO stage record is the authority for the dates.
Why it matters to the buyer
A short clause with a practical use: it keeps the vocabulary stable across the quality plan, the model card and the contract. Two forms for one thing look harmless until a reader has to decide whether AI, ML, model and system mean the same object in a requirement. The clause fixes the two abbreviations the model itself uses and leaves the organisation to keep its own glossary for everything else.
What to write in the requirement
Use the abbreviations consistently in the requirement set. If a document introduces its own abbreviation, add it to the glossary rather than leaving two forms in circulation. In contracts, define the abbreviation at first use and use the same form in every schedule, because a defined term that changes between schedules is a dispute waiting to happen.
Evidence a reviewer asks for
A reviewer will notice when the same thing is called AI in one document and a model in another.
- GlossaryThe abbreviation list used across the quality documents
- Document checkA read of the quality plan, the system card and the contract for undefined or competing abbreviations
- Change noteThe date the abbreviation list was last reviewed against the documents that use it
Where it commonly fails
- Two abbreviations for the same system
- An undefined acronym in a requirement
What to do before publication
Nothing to prepare for this clause itself. Check the glossary when the other clauses are updated, and add any new abbreviation the second edition introduces rather than letting a second vocabulary grow beside the first.
Read across
Source for clause 4: ISO/IEC 25059, Clause 4, retrieved 20 October 2026. The change line rests on the public draft of the second edition and ISO page 88234. The requirement, evidence and gaps are written from our record. Every source.