A model card is standardized documentation describing a model's purpose, intended and out-of-scope uses, training data characteristics, evaluation results across conditions, and known limitations and risks.
The practice originated in machine learning research and has been adopted in regulatory frameworks.
Alternative Names:
Model Documentation, System Card
Why it Matters?
Model cards are the vendor documentation a legal buyer should request during diligence, because they state the intended use and known limitations in the vendor's own words. A card identifying out-of-scope uses that include the buyer's intended application is a meaningful finding. Their absence is also informative, since a vendor without documentation describing evaluation conditions and limitations has likely not conducted structured evaluation.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What does a model card contain?
What does the absence of one indicate?
