---
title: "Discussion on \"Choose the Reference That Tests the Decision\" | Hashnode"
description: "Discussion on \"Choose the Reference That Tests the Decision\". Five tests that decide whether a dataset, benchmark or prior deployment can carry the decision you have to make, before you build an evaluation on it."
url: "https://hashnode.com/posts/choose-the-reference-that-tests-the-decision/6ab98c2ae9c3a4c7dd5da912"
---

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# [Choose the Reference That Tests the Decision](https://radar.firstaimovers.com/choose-the-reference-that-tests-the-decision?utm_source=hashnode&utm_medium=feed)

Five tests that decide whether a dataset, benchmark or prior deployment can carry the decision you have to make, before you build an evaluation on it.

Sep 27 · 11 min read · radar.firstaimovers.com  
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## Written by

[Dr Hernani Costa](https://hashnode.com/@drhernanicosta)

@drhernanicosta · Amsterdam, Netherlands

  
[View profile](https://hashnode.com/@drhernanicosta)

Architecting Responsible AI & Automation

PhD in Computational Linguistics. I build the operating systems for responsible AI. Founder of First AI Movers, helping companies move from "experimentation" to "governance and scale." Writing about the intersection of code, policy (EU AI Act), and automation.

## Responses 1

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[Mihai\_LeanZero](https://hashnode.com/@mihaileanzero)

[Sep 28](https://hashnode.com/posts/choose-the-reference-that-tests-the-decision/6ab98c2ae9c3a4c7dd5da912/comment/6aba021a81ec09d3efac9410)

The five tests hold cleanly for a static artifact like the bearing dataset, where the failure event was recorded once and does not change afterwards. For a reference used to evaluate an LLM-facing system, test five probably needs a time dimension the piece does not mention: a named, versioned, rights-clear, independently-labelled benchmark can still stop testing what it claims to test once the models under evaluation have plausibly seen it during training. A benchmark that earned ACCEPT against a 2023 model lineup can drift toward REJECT against a 2026 lineup with the dataset itself unchanged, purely because the population being evaluated moved. That drift is a property of the evaluated systems, not of the collection conditions, so folding it into test two undersells it; it reads more like its own line item, benchmark age relative to the newest model's training cutoff, worth checking even when every other test passes cleanly.