Code of Trust

What the book covers

Autonomous systems are moving from laboratory experiments to operational infrastructure — making decisions about hiring, lending, policing, healthcare, and national security. When software becomes staff, traditional governance models break down. Accountability becomes diffuse, oversight becomes technical, and public trust becomes fragile.

Code of Trust reframes the problem. Instead of treating AI ethics, risk management, and compliance as separate silos, it presents them as layers of a single institutional architecture: the Trust Stack™. Each layer — Law, Policy, Code, Markets, and Norms — must align for an autonomous system to remain trustworthy over time.

The book moves from concrete cases — workplace surveillance, data brokers, regulatory fragmentation, and algorithmic harm — to a practical blueprint organizations can use to design, deploy, and defend autonomous systems that are audit-ready by design.

Inside the book

1. When Software Becomes Staff

   Why autonomous systems are no longer just tools — and what changes when they start making decisions on our behalf.

2. The Office Panopticon

   How workplace surveillance and algorithmic management erode the trust between organizations and the people they serve.

3. The Data Broker State

   The hidden economy of personal data and why data governance is now a sovereignty issue, not just a compliance one.

4. Patchwork Nation

   Why inconsistent regulation creates compliance confusion — and how institutions can navigate a fragmented policy landscape.

5. Trust is a Stack

   An introduction to the five-layer Trust Stack™: Law, Policy, Code, Markets, and Norms.

6. Accountability at Scale

   Building mechanisms that assign responsibility when AI systems fail, drift, or cause harm.

7. Standards and Sovereignty

   How global standards, national interests, and organizational autonomy interact in AI governance.

8. Human-Centered Security

   Protecting people as the core objective of security — not systems, credentials, or infrastructure alone.

9. Constitutional Friction

   Where emerging AI capabilities press against rights, liberties, and the rule of law.

10. The Data Divide

    How uneven access to data and AI capability threatens to widen inequality — and what governance can do about it.

11. Sustainable Autonomy

    Designing autonomous systems that remain safe, fair, and accountable over their operational lifetime.

12. The Trust Blueprint

    A practical framework for turning the ideas in the book into an operational governance program.

Who it's for

• Boards & Executives

  Leaders who need a clear, non-technical framework for governing AI risk at the enterprise level.

• Compliance & Risk Officers

  Professionals mapping AI initiatives to ISO 42001, emerging regulation, and internal control frameworks.

• AI & Product Leaders

  Teams building autonomous systems who want to earn trust by design rather than rebuild it after a failure.

• Public-Sector & Policy Teams

  Organizations navigating standards, sovereignty, and the societal implications of automated decision-making.

About the author

Dr. Kim de Peiza — Founder, AAE Consulting LLC

Dr. Kim de Peiza is the founder of AAE Consulting LLC and the creator of the Code of Trust™ framework. With more than twenty years of experience advising organizations on governance, risk, and responsible technology, she has spent her career translating complex institutional challenges into practical, audit-ready systems.

Her work sits at the intersection of law, policy, engineering, and organizational behavior — the same intersection where autonomous systems are now being deployed. Code of Trust distills that experience into a methodology leaders can use to build systems that are not only compliant, but genuinely trustworthy.

Frequently asked questions

Is the book available on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes. Code of Trust is enrolled in KDP Select / Kindle Unlimited, so subscribers can read it at no extra cost during the enrollment period.

Is there a print edition?

The primary edition is a Kindle ebook. A print edition may be offered separately — check the Amazon page for current formats.

Do I need a technical background to read it?

No. The book is written for institutional leaders, boards, compliance officers, and policy professionals. Technical concepts are explained through governance and real-world implications rather than code.

Is the Code of Trust framework aligned with ISO 42001?

Yes. The Trust Stack™ and Code of Trust™ methodology are designed to be ISO/IEC 42001 aligned, helping organizations turn principles into auditable practice.

Can AAE Consulting help implement the ideas in the book?

Yes. The book introduces the framework; AAE Consulting engagements operationalize it. You can start with a free consultation to discuss where your organization is on the trust journey.