Research journal · Announcement
ack3 Joins Sherlock Audit Engine as a Launch Partner
Sherlock launched the Audit Engine with ack3 among its AI auditors. What the engine is, and where else the ack3 AI scan runs.
ack3 has joined Sherlock’s Audit Engine as a launch partner. Sherlock introduced the engine on August 18, 2026 with ack3 among its AI auditors.
What the Audit Engine is
The Audit Engine is Sherlock’s AI-native security review. Several independent AI security systems review the same codebase, each built and operated by a different security team, and Sherlock coordinates their output into one result. The engine did not launch cold: Sherlock tested it for months in private engagements against production code before launch.
Where the ack3 AI scan runs
The ack3 AI scan is ack3’s AI auditor in the engine. It runs during the manual review of every ack3 audit, and standalone, with our auditors validating its findings; the most recent public example of a manual review with the ack3 AI scan is the Lido NEST review.
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About the author.
Vocabulary
Terms used in this article.
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Audit
A smart contract audit is an independent, scope-bound security review of blockchain code using manual analysis, testing, tooling, and documented findings.
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Auditor
A smart contract auditor is a security researcher who reviews blockchain systems for exploitable behavior, unsafe assumptions, and implementation errors.
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Findings
An audit finding is a documented security or code-quality issue supported by evidence, an impact assessment, and a recommendation or remediation status.
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