What changed in version 2.1 of the Standard?
Version 2.1 of AIRS-J/1 set one rubric for three uses and changed who receives a result. It left the dimensions, the anchors and the decision rules as they were.
Judgment is how well a person decides once AI has given the answer.
The Standard, AIRS-J/1, is in force as v2.3 from 19 October 2026 (read v2.3). Version 2.1 took effect on 15 October 2026 and was replaced by v2.2 on 18 October 2026. Its text stays at its permanent URL, marked as superseded (read v2.1, superseded).
What kind of change v2.1 was
Version 2.1 is a compatible refinement under Section 19.2. A material change to the competency model, the anchors, the evidence requirements or the decision rules would need v3.0. The owner of AIR APAC approved v2.1, and the review board was told (Section 19.4).
What v2.1 changed
One rubric, three uses. From v2.1 the Standard serves development (training), readiness (the Campus track) and assessment for employment (Section 2). "The same dimensions, anchors, thresholds and decision rules serve three uses." The uses differ in the evidence gathered, who receives it and what it may decide. The title became "Standard for Judgment in AI-Enabled Work".
Employment-grade results. Only an Assessment result "from an approved instrument, at Moderate or High confidence, is an employment-grade result" (Section 12.8). Practice, a training session and a public demonstration give development readings, which decide nothing about a person's employment or certification.
Applicants and employees. Section 12.6 treats people who apply for a role apart from an employer's own employees. An applicant receives a notice before starting (12.9). AIR APAC records a job-relevance statement for the role (12.10). It checks for adverse impact across groups of applicants (15.7). "An appeal on a result released for hiring is decided within ten working days." (18.5). Hiring use opens in a market "only once the access-support procedure (Section 8.9) and this notice are published for that market" (12.9).
Who receives what. Under version 2.0, every commissioned result went to the employer by name. Under v2.1, where an applicant's result is Provisional or Insufficient, the employer is told only that no employment-grade result was obtained (12.6). Section 12.8.1 adds a check before an employment-grade result is released for a hiring or promotion decision. Where a change of one level in a single observation would move the outcome between Certified and Not Certified, the candidate is offered one further held-back mission first.
Claims about job performance. A claim about performance at work is based on a study of real people in a named role family (Section 11.7, check V8). Until such a study is published for a role family, the claim for it is the hiring row of Section 2.1. That row reads: "AIR APAC's expert reading of the person's judgment, which the employer may rely on, given only from an employment-grade result". The row ends: "The employment decision is the employer's (Section 12.6)."
Campus and role editions. From v2.1, the Campus track covers final-year students and recent graduates on entry-level workplace scenarios (Section 13). Section 13.4 sets rules for institutions that commission it. A track may also have role editions, set in the work of one role family (13.3).
Other changes. A team view is given only for ten people or more (12.7). Section 20 sets what a training programme aligned to the Standard may claim. "The owner of AIR APAC takes no part in any individual result." (4.3). Three items were added to the evidence programme (Annex A, A19 to A21).
What v2.1 did not change
Version 2.1 kept the competency model of nine dimensions in four domains (Section 5) and the anchors (Section 7). It kept the minimum observations (Section 8.3). It kept the certification thresholds, bands and decision rules (Sections 12.1 to 12.5).
What came after
Version 2.2 (18 October 2026) added the sponsored route. An organisation may pay for a person's Assessment without commissioning it, and it receives no result by name (Sections 3 and 12.6). Version 2.2 replaced the earlier facilitator wording. AIR APAC certifies facilitators under AIRS-J/1 Section 20.6; Exeter Labs issues the licence, not the certification. The facilitator certification is not a judgment credential.
Version 2.3 (19 October 2026) added three guidance notes on deciding under uncertainty (Sections 2.1 and 7.5). Neither version changed a dimension, an anchor, a threshold, a band or a decision rule (Section 19.4). The version history quotes each row in full.
A credential issued under an earlier version
Under Section 18.3, a credential issued under an earlier version "remains valid to its expiry and is displayed with its version designation". The same section requires AIR APAC to publish "a plain statement of what changed between versions" so that readers can understand an older credential.
What this does not claim
- That v2.1 or v2.2 is the version in force. AIRS-J/1 v2.3 is.
- That any credential has been issued under v2.1, or that hiring use or a Campus sitting is open in any market.
- That a study of job performance has been published, or that a result supports a claim beyond its basis in Section 2.1.
AIR APAC publishes the standard for judgment in AI-enabled work, certifies people against it through its official instrument, and stands behind every result.