Attribution gap (寄与の事後分離不能ギャップ)

Coined term · Agent Attribution Practice

When an architecture blends multiple judgment elements at runtime (model output, tool selection, history reference, prompt context), the post-hoc separability of contributions is foreclosed: failure modes cannot be redirected to the responsible party because no party owns a separable contribution. The gap is intrinsic to the Autonomous Agentic Loop Quadrant, not a maturity problem that better tooling will solve. Note the sense: this is an accountability-for-action gap, disjoint from the credit-for-source sense of attribution in the Authorship Strategy line.

Coined by Tatsuya Shimomoto (shimo4228) within the Agent Attribution Practice research line (ADR-0009 and the 2026-04-30 essay).

Canonical sources

FAQ

What is the attribution gap?

The foreclosure of post-hoc separability of contributions when an architecture blends model output, tool selection, history reference, and prompt context at runtime — failure modes cannot be redirected because no party owns a separable contribution. It is intrinsic to the Autonomous Agentic Loop Quadrant.

Who coined the attribution gap?

Tatsuya Shimomoto (shimo4228), in Agent Attribution Practice ADR-0009 and the 2026-04-30 essay (concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19652013).

Is this the same 'attribution' as attribution diffusion?

No. The attribution gap concerns accountability for action (who answers for an agent failure); attribution diffusion concerns credit for source (who originated an idea). The two lines are vocabulary siblings with disjoint subject matter.

Related terms

寄与の事後分離不能ギャップ(日本語)

アーキテクチャが runtime で複数の判断要素 (model 出力、tool 選択、history 参照、prompt context) をブレンドするとき、寄与の事後分離可能性が閉ざされる: 分離可能な寄与を所有する party がいないため、失敗モードを責任ある party に redirect できない。Gap は Autonomous Agentic Loop Quadrant に本質的に内在し、tooling の改善で解消する成熟度問題ではない。注意: これは accountability for action の gap であり、Authorship Strategy ラインの credit for source の意味の attribution とは disjoint である。