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All glossary terms

AI governance

Agent Governance

Agent governance is the set of policies, roles, technical boundaries, and review practices used to guide autonomous software agents. It covers how agents are approved, what data and tools they may use, how their actions are observed, and how people can intervene when outcomes need review.

Also known as AI agent governance.

Why it matters in practice

An agent can call tools and change external state, so governance must describe more than model quality. Teams connect identity, permissions, logging, evaluations, escalation paths, and ownership to the agent lifecycle. The controls are specific to each deployment; a governance program is not itself proof that an agent is safe or compliant.

Example

A team inventories an assistant, limits its ticketing tool to a test workspace, records tool actions, and routes unusual account changes to a reviewer.

Educational note

This definition is general information, not legal advice. It may omit facts that matter to a specific situation and does not establish or guarantee compliance.