EDC
Expression Distortion Cost
Performance loss when expressed input to AI diverges from the user's underlying goals, constraints, and preferences.
Expression Distortion Cost (EDC) captures the error side of human–AI interaction: outputs may be fluent yet structurally misaligned because the input did not faithfully represent the user’s operative internal state.
EDC pairs with Self-Alignment Load (SAL) in the Authenticity–Cost Model.