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Calibration

By Updated

The property that a model's confidence matches its accuracy: of the cases scored 0.9, about nine in ten are right. Modern neural networks are often poorly calibrated 1, so calibration is measured in the eval gate per version and subgroup before any threshold is trusted.

Developed in
ch. 11, Calibration before thresholds
Chapters
ch. 11, AI Defined
Contrast with
Calibration within groups
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

5 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Calibration: mentions per chapter22 mentions of the term across 5 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter10 Reading List: 2 mentions10 Reading List211 AI Defined: 11 mentions11 AI Defined1114 Development: 2 mentions14 Development215 Deployment: 2 mentions15 Deployment216 Fairness & XAI: 5 mentions16 Fairness & XAI5No mentions in the other 18 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Calibration: mentions per chapter22 mentions of the term across 5 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter00010203040506070810 Reading List: 2 mentions21011 AI Defined: 11 mentions1111121314 Development: 2 mentions21415 Deployment: 2 mentions21516 Fairness & XAI: 5 mentions51617181920212223Source: 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 Calibration 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 List2No
11 AI Defined11Yes
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development2No
15 Deployment2No
16 Fairness & XAI5No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

3 pattern pages use the term, most mentions first.

Calibration: 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.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code03 Evals04 Runtime ControlsCalibrationRelated terms (3)Conformal prediction · RelatedConformal predictionEval gate · RelatedEval gatePredictive AI · RelatedPredictive AIContrast with (1)Calibration within groups · ContrastCalibration within groupsPatterns using it (3)Drift & Fairness Monitor, 1 mention · Uses the termDrift & Fairness MonitorFairness Eval Suite, 1 mention · Uses the termFairness Eval SuiteUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 1 mention · Uses the termUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering
Calibration: 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.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code03 Evals04 Runtime ControlsRelated terms (3)Conformal prediction · RelatedConformal predictionEval gate · RelatedEval gatePredictive AI · RelatedPredictive AIContrast with (1)Calibration within groups · ContrastCalibration within groupsPatterns using it (3)Drift & Fairness Monitor, 1 mention · Uses the termDrift & Fairness MonitorFairness Eval Suite, 1 mention · Uses the termFairness Eval SuiteUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 1 mention · Uses the termUse-Case Intake & Risk TieringCalibration
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 Calibration
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsConformal predictionRelated
Related termsEval gateRelated
Related termsPredictive AIRelated
Contrast withCalibration within groupsContrast
Patterns using itDrift & Fairness Monitor, 1 mentionUses the term
Patterns using itFairness Eval Suite, 1 mentionUses the term
Patterns using itUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 1 mentionUses the term
  • Conformal prediction

    A distribution-free method that turns a trained model's output into a set of candidate answers that contains the right one with a chosen probability.

  • Predictive AI

    AI that outputs an estimate about something that exists: a score, class or forecast.

  • Eval gate

    A pipeline stage that fails the build when an eval fails; the mechanism that turns an evaluation into an enforced control rather than a report.

Sources

  1. [1] On Calibration of Modern Neural Networks (modern networks poorly calibrated; ICML 2017; arXiv 1706.04599). Guo, Pleiss, Sun and Weinberger. 2017-06-14. https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.04599 (verified: primary)

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

Cite this term

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

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026calibration,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Calibration}},
  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/calibration}
}