The adoption of large language models in safety-critical system engineering is constrained by trustworthiness, traceability, and alignment with established verification practices. We propose workflow-level design principles for trustworthy GenAI integration and demonstrate them in an end-to-end automotive pipeline, from requirement delta identification to SysML v2 architecture update and re-testing. First, we show that monolithic ("big-bang") prompting misses critical changes in large specifications, while section-wise decomposition with diversity sampling and lightweight NLP sanity checks improves completeness and correctness. Then, we propagate requirement deltas into SysML v2 models and validate updates via compilation and static analysis. Additionally, we ensure traceable regression testing by generating test cases through explicit mappings from specification variables to architectural ports and states, providing practical safeguards for GenAI used in safety-critical automotive engineering.
Figures & tables
Figure 1: GenAI-assisted workflow from requirement updates to architecture changes and verification.
Figure 2: A revised workflow for comparing complicated documents while increasing trustworthiness.
Figure 3: Precision and recall per model setting in retrieving relevant sections across ASPICE v3.1 and v4. Union refers to combining the predictions of Qwen3:32B, Nemotron3:30B, and GPT-OSS:20B.
Figure 4: Last-mile syntax drift in requirement allocation: :: replaced by . , breaking compilation.
Generative AI can produce engineering artefacts, but generation alone does not determine whether or how those artefacts should enter safety-critical workflows. This paper develops a formal framework for assigning AI participation and assurance at the level of individual workflow units. Each unit has a participation and assurance record covering its engineering requirement, an approved operational formalization where applicable, the applicable mechanism, fallback where applicable, evidence obligations and the applicable guarantee, plus a deployment-readiness status. The framework distinguishes deterministic verification, statistically calibrated admission, authorized human judgement supported by AI advice, authorized human adjudication of AI-produced artefacts, retained deterministic tool paths and explicit non-participation; these arrangements carry different kinds of guarantee rather than levels on a common scale. The framework also separates formalization fidelity from verifier soundness, provides a staged classification and readiness procedure, and derives conditions for comparing a gated AI-assisted unit with an incumbent process under recurring-population assumptions. We instantiate and apply the framework in an executed 17-unit wing-spar structural-analysis workflow combining deterministically gated AI-generated CAD, retained deterministic computation and human judgement. The AI-generated CAD program passed all 23 deterministic checks and was admitted at the first attempt. Favourable stress magnitudes did not suffice to pass the stress criteria where the predeclared mesh-convergence evidence was insufficient; those criteria were instead referred to engineering judgement. The case demonstrates selective AI participation and explicit evidence handling at unit level; no claim is made of workflow-level dependability, certification, structural safety or productivity.
Puxue Tan
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Queen’s University Belfast 50 Malone Road, Belfast, UK
Large Language Models (LLMs) have transformed artificial intelligence from primarily generative systems into increasingly capable reasoning agents. Recent advances in theorem proving, autoformalization, symbolic reasoning, and tool-augmented language models demonstrate substantial progress toward machine-assisted formal reasoning. However, current reasoning systems still suffer from hidden logical inconsistencies, hallucinated symbolic transitions, unsupported theorem applications, and limited reliability guarantees. Existing approaches remain fragmented across formal verification, runtime assurance, neuro-symbolic reasoning and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) research communities. This paper introduces ReasonOps, a unified operational paradigm for trustworthy verified reasoning systems. Inspired by operational ecosystems such as DevOps and MLOps, ReasonOps treats reasoning as a continuously monitored, verifiable, reliability-aware operational process rather than an isolated inference task. The proposed paradigm integrates semantic interpretation, autoformalization, symbolic reasoning, theorem proving, runtime assurance, probabilistic reliability estimation, and adaptive correction into a unified reasoning lifecycle. The paper further presents the ReasonOps architecture, demonstrates its workflow using an autonomous braking system analysis example, and discusses its potential role in future safety-critical autonomous AI systems. We argue that operational reasoning paradigms such as ReasonOps may become foundational infrastructure for next-generation trustworthy AI ecosystems.
Adnan Rashid
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan
The development of generative artificial intelligence resources enables opportunities of speeding up systems and engineering design work. This contribution introduces a framework of formal operations for assembling context in LLM-based engineering design. This framework involves the assembly of modular context units, including policy prompts, reference units with persistence, and user questions with prompt vectoring. This approach enables the systematic structuring of interactions with generative models. A formal method for evaluating modelling-as-code LLM outputs is also presented, which enables the evaluation of compliance to intent from LLM answers and thereby asses the support from LLMs for systems architecture modelling.
Vinicius Kaster Marini, Petter Krus
Department of Mechanical Engineering Centre of Technology Federal University of Santa Maria Santa Maria/RS, BR 97105-900, Brazil · Section for Fluid Power and Mechatronics Department of Management and Engineering Linköping University SE 581 83, Linköping, Sweden