The RIC framework evaluates companies based on structural position, not financial metrics.

Each company is assessed across four dimensions that reflect how closely it controls a live layer of reality and how tightly artificial intelligence is integrated into that control.

All four dimensions must be present for a company to qualify as a RIC.

1. Layer criticality

Question:

How foundational is the reality layer controlled by the company?

This dimension assesses whether the layer is:

• structurally upstream of other systems

• difficult or impossible to bypass

• essential to economic activity, information flow, or coordination

Examples of high-criticality layers include:

• search and knowledge access

• identity and attention

• commerce and logistics

• physical movement and sensing

2. Reality proximity

Question:

How close is the AI system to real-world action?

This measures the distance between:

AI decision → real-world consequence

Higher proximity is assigned where AI decisions directly affect:

• physical movement

• pricing and fulfillment

• information exposure at scale

• capital or resource allocation

Systems operating on physical or economic reality score higher than purely analytical or advisory systems.

3. Feedback density

Question:

How continuous and reinforcing is the feedback loop?

This dimension evaluates:

• how frequently actions generate new data

• how quickly that data feeds back into the system

• whether learning occurs continuously or episodically

Higher scores are associated with systems where:

• every interaction produces signal

• loops operate in near real time

• learning compounds automatically

4. AI sovereignty

Question:

How much of the intelligence stack does the company control?

This assesses whether the company:

• develops and trains its own core models

• controls deployment and inference

• operates AI as part of the primary control loop

Companies that rely on third-party intelligence for defining functions score lower than those with first-party AI sovereignty.

Each dimension is evaluated on a relative basis within the RIC universe.

Scores are:

• comparative rather than absolute

• used to inform weighting, not qualification

• reviewed periodically

The framework avoids false precision.

Judgment is applied consistently rather than mechanically.

• The methodology is reviewed periodically

• Revisions occur only when structural conditions change

• Short-term market movements do not trigger updates

RIC evaluation is intentionally slow.

This methodology does not:

• optimize for volatility or returns

• model valuation multiples

• provide investment signals

• replace fundamental or financial analysis

It exists to answer a simpler question:

Where does durable control over reality sit, and how tightly is intelligence integrated into that control?

Methodology version: v1.0

Introduced: 2026

Maintained by: Purpl