Decision Drift as a Governance Risk in AI-Mediated Contexts

This project releases a conceptual governance analysis examining decision drift as a structural risk in AI-mediated decision environments. The work focuses on how long-term governance arrangements may gradually diverge from their original assumptions without producing immediate failure signals, thereby weakening accountability continuity over time. Rather than presenting empirical case studies or performance evaluations, the analysis operates at a governance-structural level. It conceptualizes decision drift as an institutional condition arising from temporal misalignment between planning, delegation, and execution, particularly in contexts where AI systems are embedded as decision-support infrastructure rather than autonomous agents. The work is presented as a stable conceptual research artifact. It is intended to serve as a definitional and analytical reference point for discussions of governance risk, responsibility allocation, and long-term decision integrity in AI-mediated settings. No revisions or empirical extensions are planned for this release.