Who owns AIR APAC and Exeter Labs?
One person founded both companies. The Standard declares the shared ownership, says what each company does for the other, and sets what the owner does not do.
Judgment is how well a person decides once AI has given the answer. AIR APAC publishes AIRS-J/1, the standard for judgment in AI-enabled work, and certifies people against it.
The Standard states the relationship in its own words: "The owner of AIR APAC Pte. Ltd. also owns Exeter Labs." (AIRS-J/1, Section 4.9). Indhran Seghar is Founding Director of AIR APAC. He founded both AIR APAC and Exeter Labs.
The two companies
AIR APAC. AIR APAC Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202600913G) is a company in Singapore. It publishes, measures and trains. It owns the Standard: Section 17 lists it as "Standard owner".
Built by Exeter Labs
Exeter Labs. Exeter Labs is the product company of AIR APAC: it builds and operates StepSim, an AIR APAC initiative and the official instrument of the Standard. Under contract with AIR APAC, Exeter Labs also holds the intellectual property in, builds and operates the other tools AIR APAC uses (Section 4.9).
Declared interest. Exeter Labs builds and operates StepSim, AIR APAC's official assessment instrument. The owner of AIR APAC also owns Exeter Labs.
Between the two. AIR Academy, AIR APAC's learning division, delivers the StepSim facilitator programme under a written arrangement with Exeter Labs (AIRS-J/1 Section 4.9). AIR APAC certifies facilitators under AIRS-J/1 Section 20.6; Exeter Labs issues the licence, not the certification. Facilitator certification is not a judgment credential (Section 20.6).
What the owner does, and does not do
The owner of AIR APAC decides on the review board's recommendations and holds a veto over them; each board member's dissent from a released version is recorded (Section 4.2).
The Standard sets three rules for results and appeals:
- "The owner of AIR APAC takes no part in any individual result." (Section 4.3)
- "Certification outcomes are decided by the rules in Section 12 alone, never by what a candidate or employer bought." (Section 4.3)
- An appeal goes to a reviewer "not involved in the original decision or delivery, and not employed by or paid through Exeter Labs" (Section 17).
Section 17 also names an external academic reviewer of the Standard.
How a new arrangement becomes known
Section 4.9 lists the arrangements between AIR APAC and Exeter Labs. It also sets a rule for the future: "Any further arrangement between the two is entered here before it takes effect."
The rubric is public and versioned (Section 4.1), and a superseded version keeps its permanent URL (status line). A reader can compare Section 4.9 in one version with Section 4.9 in the next.
What this does not claim
- It does not claim that shared ownership removes the conflict of interest. The interest is declared, not removed.
- It does not claim that AIR APAC and Exeter Labs are independent of each other in ownership. They have the same owner.
- It does not claim that Exeter Labs sets or changes the criteria. The Standard says no criterion exists outside its own text and the instrument specification it incorporates (Section 4.1). A change to that specification that changes a rule is released with a new version of the Standard (Annex F).
- It does not claim that any outside body has approved the Standard. The owner of AIR APAC approved v2.3, in force since 19 October 2026.
- It does not present AIR APAC as a vendor, an agency or a software company. AIR APAC is none of these.
AIR APAC publishes the standard for judgment in AI-enabled work, certifies people against it through its official instrument, and stands behind every result.