Agent security6 MIN READ
The permission boundary behind every agent action
An agent can only be evaluated in the context of what its tools allow. Examine identity, delegated authority and action boundaries before you put a workflow in motion.
THE SOFTLANDER BLOG
Agent authority
How identity, delegation and approval boundaries determine which actions an agent is allowed to take.
In Agent authority
15 articlesGovernance & privacy6 MIN READ
AI agents in legal operations: assistance without invented authority
Legal agents can organize evidence and prepare work, but professional judgement, client authority and verified legal positions cannot be delegated by interface.
Architecture & engineering6 MIN READ
Designing a human handoff that preserves context and authority
A safe handoff transfers the decision, evidence, current state and bounded authority—not a transcript dump or a vague request for someone to take over.
Architecture & engineering7 MIN READ
An AI feature, an AI agent and an agentic system are not the same thing
Classify AI by the action path it creates, not the label on the product. The distinction determines ownership, controls, evaluation and release evidence.
Governance & privacy6 MIN READ
The board’s questions about AI agents should begin with authority
Boards do not need to review prompts or model scores. They need a clear account of what each agent may do, whose mandate it carries and how control is recovered.
Architecture & engineering6 MIN READ
Agentic AI in manufacturing maintenance
Maintenance agents can turn condition signals into coordinated work, but plant safety and control demand bounded action and field verification.
Evaluation & assurance6 MIN READ
Measure the action, not just the answer
A convincing message can conceal a failed or unauthorised operation. Agent evaluation must inspect tool calls, external state and control decisions.
Strategy & transformation6 MIN READ
Where AI agents fit in finance operations—and where they should stop
Finance agents can prepare, reconcile and investigate, but posting, paying and attesting require deliberately separated authority.
Strategy & transformation6 MIN READ
A responsible-autonomy workshop for one real workflow
Responsible autonomy becomes concrete when a cross-functional team maps one workflow’s actions, consequences, evidence and intervention choices.
Evaluation & assurance6 MIN READ
Evaluating a customer-support agent from answer to action
A support agent should be judged on whether it resolves the right problem safely, not on whether its first answer sounds convincing.
Governance & privacy7 MIN READ
A useful autonomy classification starts with consequences
Classify an AI agent by what it can affect, the authority it can exercise and how quickly people can recover—not by how autonomous a demo appears.
Governance & privacy6 MIN READ
Authority boundaries for procurement agents
A procurement agent may discover, compare and prepare, but supplier commitments require explicit mandates, separation and evidence.
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