# What is a model card?

> A model card is a short document that a model's maker publishes about the model's intended use, its performance and where not to use it.

Source: https://meshin.co/glossary/model-card
Updated: 2026-10-02

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## Why it comes up

Procurement asks a model vendor for it directly once evaluating more than one option. A card makes two vendors comparable on the same axes, rather than on whatever each chose to advertise. A technical due-diligence review reads the limitations section specifically. That is where a vendor is most likely to have been honest about where the model actually struggles.

## What to do about it

Ask every model vendor for their card before signing. Read the limitations section before the headline numbers: the numbers are chosen by the vendor, and the limitations rarely are. If a company fine-tunes or wraps a base model itself, write a short card of its own. Describe what changed and what the company tested. The vendor questionnaire this request belongs in is one of the four documents in the [AI Governance Starter Kit](/resources/ai-governance-starter-kit).