Abstention band

A range of scores in which a system does not act on its own but routes the case to a human reviewer. Its width is set by risk tier; the band size and the reviewers' override rate are monitored as signals. Conformal prediction gives one way to size it 1.

Developed in
ch. 11, Certainty required by risk tier
Chapters
ch. 11, AI Defined
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

One chapter of the Body of Knowledge uses the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Abstention band: mentions per chapter2 mentions of the term across 1 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapter11 AI Defined: 2 mentions11 AI Defined2No mentions in the other 22 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Abstention band: mentions per chapter2 mentions of the term across 1 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapter0001020304050607081011 AI Defined: 2 mentions211121314151617181920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Abstention band per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined2Yes
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development0No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No
Abstention band: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedAbstention bandRelated terms (3)Automation bias · RelatedAutomation biasConformal prediction · RelatedConformal predictionRisk tier · RelatedRisk tier
Abstention band: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedRelated terms (3)Automation bias · RelatedAutomation biasConformal prediction · RelatedConformal predictionRisk tier · RelatedRisk tierAbstention band
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Abstention band
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAutomation biasRelated
Related termsConformal predictionRelated
Related termsRisk tierRelated

Sources

  1. [1] A Gentle Introduction to Conformal Prediction and Distribution-Free Uncertainty Quantification (prediction sets with user-specified coverage; arXiv 2107.07511). Angelopoulos and Bates. 2021-07-15. https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.07511 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Abstention band. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/abstention-band. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026abstentionband,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Abstention band}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/abstention-band}
}