Bounded Autonomy: How Much Freedom Should Your Agents Have?

Vendors talk about autonomy levels: suggest, prepare, act with approval, act within policy. 2026 enterprise guidance stressed bounded autonomy — freedom inside a fence, not unbounded freedom.

Assign an autonomy level to every live agent today. Any money-moving agent above prepare/approve should be downgraded until dual control exists.

Human-in-the-loop is not a cost if it prevents irreversible loss; it is a cost when the human is only decorative approval with no time to review.

Write autonomy levels into the runbook so a model swap does not silently raise them.

Manager action: Assign an autonomy level to every live agent today. Downgrade any money-moving agent above Level 2 until dual control exists.