VendorProof
An independent AI-vendor certification service that audits third-party AI products before SMB purchase — running the vendor's claimed capabilities against a frozen reference test suite and issuing a plain-English trust report comparable to a SOC or UL mark.
IT leads and procurement managers at mid-sized companies evaluating AI vendor tools
- Frozen reference test suite adapted per vendor's claimed capability category
- Bias, drift, and regression checks against a stable reference model
- Plain-English audit report with red/yellow/green ratings for non-technical buyers
- Public trust badge and annual re-certification the vendor can display on its site
SMBs are buying AI tools faster than they can vet them; recurring vendor scandals around inflated claims make third-party trust signals commercially valuable.
Clear unmet need signaled by multiple SMB AI evaluation checklists and Builder.ai-style fraud exposure driving procurement caution.AI Vendor Due Diligence Checklist 2026 — GLACIS ↗Inflated AI claims are under fire—and the regulatory reckoning is coming ↗
Space is contested: TrustBench (TrustModel.ai) already runs independent AI benchmarks across 10 trust dimensions with 7M prompts, TrustArc sells Responsible AI attestations, and SafeBase powers vendor trust portals.TrustBench — AI Evaluation Platform — TrustModel.ai ↗Responsible AI Certification - TrustArc ↗
Adjacent services already monetize well (TrustArc attestations, SafeBase SOC trust portals, OpenMark's done-for-you $48h benchmarks, enterprise consulting fees) — SMBs and enterprises demonstrably pay for AI due diligence.LLM Model-Cost Audit | OpenMark AI - Done For You ↗OpenAI Trust Portal | Powered by SafeBase ↗
Regulatory trajectory (SEC scrutiny of AI claims, ESG-style greenwashing parallels, EU AI Act) and recurring vendor scandals create durable, multi-year tailwinds for independent AI certification.Inflated AI claims are under fire—and the regulatory reckoning is coming ↗Builder.ai Collapse: AI Unicorn's $220M Fraud Exposed ↗
Building and maintaining a frozen, vendor-agnostic reference test suite requires substantial AI/ML engineering, ongoing adversarial updates, and report-generation overhead — significant but not prohibitive for a well-funded team.AI Audits and Certifications: The New Third-Party Trust Layer ↗