Building an Open AIBOM Standard in the Wild: An Experience Report on Extending the SPDX SBOM (ISO/IEC 5962:2021) for AI Supply Chains
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Modern software engineering increasingly relies on open, community-driven standards, yet how such standards are created in fast-evolving domains like AI-powered systems remains underexplored. This paper presents a detailed experience report on the development of the AI Bill of Materials (AIBOM) specification, an extension of the ISO/IEC 5962:2021 Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) software bill of materials (SBOM) standard, which captures AI components such as datasets and iterative training artefacts. Framed through the lens of Action Research (AR), we document a global, multi-stakeholder effort involving over 90 contributors and structured AR cycles. The resulting specification was validated through four complementary approaches: alignment with major regulations and ethical standards (e.g., EU AI Act and IEEE 7000 standards), systematic mapping to six industry use cases, semi-structured practitioner interviews, and an industrial case study. Beyond delivering a validated artefact, our paper documents the process of building the AIBOM specification “in the wild,” and reflects on how it aligns with the AR cycle, and distills lessons that can inform future standardisation efforts in the software engineering community.
Institutions: Queen's University, Trinity College Dublin, Linux Foundation
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4415318022