Yes. A hosted AI model API is a component your product depends on, even though you do not ship its code. Put it in your inventory with the provider, model version, what data you send, who owns the contract, and what happens if it changes or disappears.
Why it belongs in the inventory
NTIA describes an SBOM as a formal record of the details and supply chain relationships of the components used in building software. A hosted model sits in that supply chain: your feature behaves differently depending on it, and it can change without a release on your side. Leaving it out hides a dependency from reviewers and from your own incident response.
What to record
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Provider and endpoint | Who you rely on and where traffic goes |
| Model name and version | Behavior changes between versions |
| Data sent | Privacy review and customer commitments |
| Data retention terms | What the provider keeps, per its own documentation |
| Features that use it | Blast radius if it fails |
| Fallback | Another model, a degraded mode, or switching the feature off |
| Contract and owner | Who answers questions and renewals |
Questions a product manager should ask
- Which customer data goes to the model, and is it needed?
- Can the provider change the model without notice, and how would we find out?
- What does the feature do if the API is down or returns something odd?
- Could we move to another provider, and what would that cost? The exit cost worksheet applies here.
- What do our customer contracts say about subprocessors and data location?
Treat outputs as untrusted
The model is a component whose output your code consumes. Validate and constrain what comes back before it triggers actions, the same way you would handle input from any external system.
Keep it current
Review the entry when the provider announces changes, when you change the prompt or the data sent, and at least once a year. Provider documentation is the source for retention and version policy, so read it rather than assuming.
Add it to release gates
Include the model entry in the pre-release checklist: has the model version changed, has the data sent changed, did the evaluation set still pass. A change to any of the three deserves a short review.
Quick check
Do we need an SBOM entry for a service we do not ship?
Record it in your inventory in some form. Whether it goes into a customer facing SBOM depends on that format and your commitments.
Who owns the entry?
The team owning the feature that calls the model, with the product manager accountable.
Safeguard's agent identity and MCP Guardrail capabilities and its compliance evidence automation can help track AI components, and the free scan is at gold.safeguard.sh/scan.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
