Read an Agent Action Ladder Before You Add Tools
Use action impact to select proportionate guardrails for an AI agent.
Use the ladder to decide how much control an agent action needs before release. Agent action ladder Read-only answer No external systems changed 0 writes Draft for a person Human sends, files, or discards 1 approval Reversible record change Can be undone from audit trail 2 controls Sensitive or irreversible action Customer, money, access, legal, or health impact 3 gates Lower external effect Higher impact requires stronger gates A procurement agent can update vendor banking details after reading an emailed instruction. Which ladder row should drive the launch decision? Sensitive or irreversible action: require a policy check, human approval, and…
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