---
title: "Model card"
description: "Structured, versioned documentation of a model (provenance, intended use, capabilities, evaluations and known failure modes) maintained as code."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/model-card
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-24
---

# Model card

Structured, versioned documentation of a model (provenance, intended use, capabilities, evaluations and known failure modes) maintained as code.

- Developed in: [ch. 14, Model cards, system cards and datasheets](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-development#model-cards-system-cards-and-datasheets); [ch. 05, Pattern: Model Card as Control Evidence](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns#pattern-model-card-as-control-evidence)
- Chapters: [ch. 04, The Stack](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/the-stack) · [ch. 05, Patterns](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns) · [ch. 14, Development](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-development)
- Contrast with: [System card](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/system-card) · [Data card](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/data-card)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-model-card

## Commonly confused

- **Model card** vs **System card**: One model's documentation, against the deployed system's: models, prompts, retrieval, tools, guardrails and oversight Deployers and authorities need the system view; a model card alone misses the controls around the model

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.