# Bernard

> AI-native diligence software for high-value art.
> Last updated: 2026-06-05.
> For the full product description, see [llms-full.txt](https://hellobernard.ai/llms-full.txt).

Bernard is AI-native diligence software for high-value art. It helps auction houses, galleries, advisors, and museums decide whether to proceed, pause, or ask for proof when provenance is thin, sources disagree, and the decision window is short. Provenance protects both market value and cultural heritage. Bernard runs the research; the expert makes the call.

Every Bernard research session writes a Knowledge Pack: a source-linked decision record containing typed claims, the evidence each claim rests on, confidence, contradictions, gaps, next actions, and human-readable views. The reasoning stays inspectable long after the decision window passes.

Bernard supports the lanes art specialists rely on: sanctions, PEP, and UBO screens (OFAC, UN, EU, UK and HMT), auction-comparable and exhibition research, and developing art-loss, restitution, and catalogue raisonné coverage. Every result is linked to its source. It is local-first: the Knowledge Pack is the durable record the professional keeps.

Art is where Bernard starts. The same source-linked-diligence pattern extends to real estate, collectibles, and other high-stakes private assets where records scatter and the history is contested.

## Audience

Bernard serves art-market professionals making high-stakes calls under deadline pressure: auction-house specialists, gallery directors, museum curators and registrars, and family-office and private advisors. These are the people who carry the decision when an object comes in, whose name and institution are on the call long after it is made.

## Key Pages

- [Homepage](https://hellobernard.ai/): AI-native diligence for high-value art; the positioning, an inspectable Knowledge Pack, and the early-access route
- [Product](https://hellobernard.ai/product): the research loop, the Knowledge Pack, KP:1, the anatomy of a pack, the public/private/proprietary coverage map, source discipline, markets, the FAQ, and the professional-judgment boundary; the canonical product walkthrough film lives here
- [Company](https://hellobernard.ai/about): team, mission, and the Ukraine museum-digitization origin (the cultural-heritage work behind Bernard)
- [Request Early Access](https://hellobernard.ai/start): contact form for early partners
- [Download](https://hellobernard.ai/download): signed and notarized macOS private beta; Windows, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, and Android are planned
- [Trust](https://hellobernard.ai/trust): product-data boundary, local-first records, scoped research, software integrity, and website service providers
- [Legal](https://hellobernard.ai/legal): website terms, product boundary, intellectual property notices, and legal contact
- [Privacy](https://hellobernard.ai/privacy): website analytics, early-access form data, product data boundary, service providers, and user choices

The former `/how` page redirects to [Product](https://hellobernard.ai/product).
The former `/knowledge-packs` page redirects to [Product](https://hellobernard.ai/product#knowledge-pack).
The former `/different` page redirects to [Product](https://hellobernard.ai/product#why-bernard).
The former `/format` and `/kp1` paths redirect to [Product](https://hellobernard.ai/product#kp1).
Legacy and convenience routes are preserved: `/company` redirects to [Company](https://hellobernard.ai/about); `/team` and `/ukraine` redirect to anchors on that page; `/access`, `/early-access`, and `/request-early-access` redirect to [Request Early Access](https://hellobernard.ai/start); `/terms` redirects to [Legal](https://hellobernard.ai/legal); `/ai-summary` redirects here.
Security convenience routes such as `/security` and `/trust-security` redirect to [Trust](https://hellobernard.ai/trust).

## Canonical Terms

- **Knowledge Pack:** source-linked decision record containing claims, evidence, confidence, contradictions, gaps, views, history, and next actions.
- **`.kpack`:** sealed archive or folder form used to carry a Knowledge Pack.
- **KP:1:** the open plain-text format Bernard uses for Knowledge Packs, published with a public spec, examples, conformance suite, and a permanent identifier.
- **Claim:** explicit assertion that can be read, challenged, and linked to evidence.
- **Evidence:** source material, record, document, or citation supporting a claim.
- **Confidence:** per-claim assessment that helps reviewers understand strength and uncertainty.
- **Contradiction:** preserved source conflict or unresolved tension that remains visible as decision signal.
- **Provenance:** the documented ownership and event history of a work; the spine of an art-diligence decision.
- **Cultural heritage:** the public dimension of provenance; the record that lets a looted or contested work be found, claimed, and returned.

## What Bernard Is

Bernard is AI-native diligence software for high-value art. It runs evidence-led research in a live Knowledge Pack: reads the record, finds gaps, chooses checks, tests evidence, updates confidence, preserves conflicts, and leaves a decision record that can be inspected, kept, and shared. In private beta, pack reading, import, browsing, and search are live; fresh research write-back is account-gated while specialist coverage expands. Public-record research includes sanctions, ownership, courts and filings, property, academic and researcher identity, auction-comparable, and exhibition routes, with art-loss, restitution, and catalogue raisonné coverage in active development.

KP:1 is the open plain-text format Bernard uses for Knowledge Packs: claims, evidence, confidence, relationships, contradictions, and the trace of how beliefs changed, in files people can read and systems can validate.

## Product Boundaries

- Bernard preserves source-linked claims, confidence, contradictions, and open actions in Knowledge Packs.
- Bernard connects evidence to claims while packs remain files the user can keep (local-first).
- Bernard keeps uncertainty explicit through confidence and contradiction records.
- Bernard supports professional diligence by organizing evidence, claims, confidence, contradictions, and open actions.
- Bernard does not replace legal, fiduciary, appraisal, authentication, compliance, or other professional judgment.

## Company

Bernard is based in New York and founded by Timothy Kompanchenko and Kiki Tovey. The work began with documenting at-risk museum collections (Ukrainian museum digitization for restitution); see the Company page. It is currently in private beta / limited early access.

Founder identity (Timothy Kompanchenko): [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5355-2764) · [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TTPcj9EAAAAJ) · [GitHub](https://github.com/tymofiy) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tymofi/)

## Contact

- Email: support@hellobernard.ai
- Early Access: https://hellobernard.ai/start