CAMP: Cognitive Arbitration Mediation Protocol — A Vendor-Neutral Framework for Trust Verification in Multi-Provider AI Ecosystems

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This paper introduces CAMP (Cognitive Arbitration Mediation Protocol), a vendor-neutral protocol for trust verification, conflict resolution, and provenance maintenance across multiple cognitive AI services. CAMP defines four formal functions — arbitration, mediation, certification, and provenance anchoring — and positions them within a three-layer coexistence architecture where cognitive engines, a trust verification layer, and consumers each occupy structurally independent roles. CAMP addresses the structural conflict of interest: no cognitive service provider can independently verify the trustworthiness of its own outputs. The protocol specifies six validation pillars (Semantic, Intent, Emotional, Disinformation, Logic, Context), formal trust scoring functions, and blockchain-anchored provenance. BRIDGRAI serves as reference implementation with 9 autonomous agents, 128 IP assets timestamped on Tezos blockchain, and 102 automated tests. The paper includes a threat model (evasion, compromise, boycott), preliminary validation metrics (F1=0.79), honest maturity assessment, and mapping to EU AI Act Articles 9, 13, 14, 15, 50, 52. AI contribution: Research phase used Claude (Anthropic), ChatGPT (OpenAI), and Qwen (Alibaba Cloud) — cross-model methodology. Critical review conducted using Qwen. Full AI contribution statement included in the paper.