Decision Trace vs Audit Log: The Critical Difference
What is an Audit Log?
An audit log is a chronological record of system events. It captures timestamps, user actions, and system states. Traditional audit logs answer the question: **"What happened?"**
What is a Decision Trace?
A decision trace goes further. It captures the full context of an autonomous decision, including:
- The raw intent signals that triggered the decision
- The precedents that informed the choice
- The policies that constrained the options
- The final rationale for the action taken
Decision traces answer the question: **"Why did this happen?"**
Why the Distinction Matters for Agentic AI
When an AI agent approves a loan, rejects a claim, or executes a trade, regulators don't just want to know that it happened. They want to understand:
- What information did the agent consider?
- What precedents from your organization's history influenced the decision?
- Was the action within policy boundaries?
The Legal Defensibility Gap
In a post-mortem or regulatory inquiry, audit logs are necessary but not sufficient. Decision traces provide the legal-grade evidence required to demonstrate that autonomous actions were authorized, informed, and aligned with institutional intent.
How to Implement Decision Tracing
Mala.dev's Ambient Siphon captures decision context from your existing infrastructure - Datadog, Splunk, Slack - without requiring code changes. The Wisdom Graph adds precedent links, and the Integrity Seal provides SHA-256 cryptographic proof of authority.