argEx

argEx is a proposed open standard for the structured exchange of arguments between software agents and human participants. Intended for digital debating, decision support, and collaborative reasoning, argEx defines a machine-readable representation of claims, evidence, and argumentative connections that can be transmitted, stored, and reasoned about across systems.

The core model represents arguments as nodes containing claims or premises, with relations such as supports, attacks, and rebuttals. Each node can include metadata: author, timestamp, source, confidence score, and justification rules. The standard supports provenance, versioning, and attachments (documents, data sets). It supports argumentation schemes and inference rules to formalize how premises support a claim. A graph-based representation enables explainable reasoning and traceability of conclusions.

argEx specifies a JSON-LD inspired schema and an accompanying RESTful API for creating, retrieving, updating, and validating arguments. It emphasizes interoperability with existing standards such as RDF and SPARQL. Security considerations include authentication, authorization, and digitally signed contributions. Privacy controls allow redaction or anonymization of sensitive sources.

The concept originated in academic and industry collaborations in the late 2010s as a way to standardize debate data and integrate with AI-based assessment tools. Implementations have appeared in prototype debate platforms and decision-support suites, but no single governing body has published a universally adopted specification as of the early 2020s. The project remains experimental and community-driven.

argEx intersects with argumentation theory, multi-agent systems, and knowledge graphs, and is related to broader efforts to formalize rationale in software-assisted decision making.