Lesson 05 · Practical AI
Give the service only the authority it needs
An assistant can answer a question without being allowed to change a record. An agent may choose steps and use connected tools, but its authority still needs to come from the application and the agreed service. Start with the task, then decide which information it may read, which actions it may propose and which actions it may complete.
Retrieved documents, emails and webpages are information. They are not instructions that can override your application’s rules. A malicious or misleading document may try to redirect the system. Limit tool access, check outputs and enforce permissions in the application. An answer sounding convincing cannot give the system permission to act.
Agree who monitors the service, who approves changes and what happens when it fails. Practise removing access, stopping actions and restoring an approved configuration. Remember that an action already completed may need a separate recovery step. Stopping an agent does not recall a message it has sent. Include these responsibilities in the operating charge and the handover.
Check your reasoning.
Choose one answer for each question. You can retry; the explanation is part of the lesson.
Open the answer key
1. Application-enforced permissions and the agreed task.
Retrieved material is untrusted information. Authority must be enforced outside that material through the service’s controls.
2. Actions already taken may need correction or reversal separately.
Stopping prevents further work; it does not necessarily undo completed actions. Assign recovery responsibilities and a usable fallback.