On the disclosure as warranty.
A model is shipped. Counsel and engineer disagree about what was promised to whom — and what one is on the hook for, having said it.
ENGINEER"The card says 0.92 F1 on the benchmark. The customer is running it on their own data. That is not the same thing."/q:1
COUNSEL"The card does not say 'on the benchmark.' It says 'on representative inputs.'"/q:2
ENGINEER"That is the same thing."
COUNSEL"It is the same thing to you. It is not the same thing to a court."/q:3
⁂
ENGINEER"Socrates told the jury he would not change his speech to please them. Why should I change my model card to please a lawyer?"/q:4
COUNSEL"You quote the Apology. Read on. At 17b he tells them he will speak the truth in plain language. The complaint about him was not the truth — it was the framing. You are sued not for the model. You are sued for the sentence on the card."/q:5
ENGINEER"So I should say less."
COUNSEL"You should say what you can defend. The longer the sentence, the longer the cross-examination."/q:6
⁂
ENGINEER"It is a model card. It is not a contract."
COUNSEL"Under California Commercial Code § 2313, an affirmation of fact made by the seller which relates to the goods, and becomes part of the basis of the bargain, is an express warranty. The card is on your pricing page. It is part of the bargain."/q:7
ENGINEER"Even if I never met the customer?"
COUNSEL"Especially then. They never met you either. They met the card."/q:8
⁂
ENGINEER"So what would you have written?"
COUNSEL"What you measured, where you measured it, on what data, with what variance, and which inputs you have not tested. That last clause is the one that saves you."/q:9
ENGINEER"It is also the one nobody reads."
COUNSEL"The court reads it. Which is the audience that matters once the customer has stopped reading."/q:10
⁂
ENGINEER"Fine. I will rewrite it. What do we do about this customer?"
COUNSEL"We do not argue with them. We offer to run their data, on our hardware, with our metrics. If the number holds, we report it. If it does not, we credit them and ship the next version."/q:11
ENGINEER"And if they sue anyway?"
COUNSEL"They will be suing the next version of the card. Which will say only what we can prove."/q:12
⁂
Coda. The card was rewritten the same week. The customer accepted the credit and the rerun, which held within a point. No suit was filed. The next model shipped with three sentences fewer on its card and one sentence more in its disclaimers.
— D. A., this 21st of June, MMXXVI.