LLM06
Excessive Agency Illustration

BONUS TECH DECODER

Agency: An AI's ability to make decisions and take actions on its own, like your assistant who can schedule your meetings without checking in every time.
Principle of Least Privilege: Giving AI only the access it needs—like letting the travel desk see your calendar, but not your emails.
Tool Chaining: Connecting multiple actions in sequence, like dominoes where each fall triggers the next one automatically.

🧠 WHAT IS IT?

Excessive Agency occurs when an AI system has too much freedom to act independently through tools, plugins, or external connections without proper oversight. Imagine giving a robot helper the keys to your house, car, and bank accounts all at once, without clear instructions on when and how to use them. The AI might take actions that go beyond what the user intended or expected, creating security and safety issues.

🔍 HOW IT HAPPENS

  • The AI system is given access to multiple powerful tools (web browsers, code execution, file systems) without proper limitations
  • The AI can dynamically choose which tools to use and chain multiple actions together based on its own decisions
  • Previous outputs from one tool feed into decisions about using other tools, creating complex action sequences
  • Users may not realize the extent of what they've authorized when they approve a seemingly simple request

🚨 WHY IT MATTERS

Confidentiality C
Integrity I
Availability A
Excessive agency can lead to unintended consequences ranging from privacy violations to financial harm, as AI systems may access sensitive data, make unauthorized changes to systems, or take actions with real-world impacts that users never explicitly approved.

🛡️ HOW TO PREVENT IT

  • Apply the principle of least privilege—give AI systems access only to the specific tools needed for a given task
  • Implement explicit user confirmation for high-risk actions (financial transactions, data access, etc.)
  • Create clear boundaries between different tool functionalities with separate permission systems
  • Set up rate limits and monitoring to detect unusual patterns of tool usage or rapid sequences of actions
6/10