Definition · foundations
excessive agency
excessive agency is a risk in which an agent has more functions, permissions, or freedom than its task needs. You can spot excessive agency in practice when the record shows what the system observes, what choice it makes, and what changes next, without asking the reader to guess or trust a slogan.
157 definitions656 sourced recordsNamed source: ACL Anthology
Why does excessive agency matter?
Extra functions and permissions create paths the task never needed, which raises the cost of a bad decision or attack. For excessive agency, start with three checks: What can the system observe? What choice can it make? What changes after it acts? The answers should point to visible evidence, not a promise.
What does excessive agency look like?
A summarization agent can read reports but also has unused permission to delete the source folder. This example makes excessive agency visible by naming the actor, the action, and the result in practice. It is an illustration for readers, not a claim that every product behaves this way.
What is excessive agency easy to confuse with?
Excessive agency is overbroad freedom or function. Excessive permissions are one way it appears. The closest entries here are event-driven agent, feedback learning, dynamic model. Compare their definitions with excessive agency before using the names as if they mean the same thing. That comparison keeps excessive agency separate from nearby ideas without pretending the boundary is always perfect.
How certain is this definition?
This definition is provisional. ACL Anthology supports the version you see today, but a better or more direct source may change it. Open the cited page and check its date before you use this entry to choose a product, write a policy, set a safety control, or design a system.
Who introduced the term excessive agency?
We have not verified who first introduced excessive agency. The source supports a useful definition, but it may not be the earliest use. Until a dated primary record settles the question, we leave the origin open. A popular article or product page is not enough to name the person who coined a term.
What should you understand before excessive agency?
Read artificial intelligence (AI) first when excessive agency depends on a more basic idea or mechanism. The link gives you a useful route through the glossary. It does not mean every author teaches the subject in this order, so follow the source when the sequence matters.
What should this term help you answer?
Use excessive agency to ask what an agent can observe, decide, change, remember, or hand off. The questions below turn the definition into a practical check. They are prompts for your own work, not claims made by the source, so change them to fit the system you are examining.
- What can the system observe?
- What choice can it make?
- What changes after it acts?
Which source supports this definition of excessive agency?
ACL Anthology supports this working definition of excessive agency. We checked the link on 2026-07-12. Open the original record for its context, methods, limits, and publication details. The short explanation here is a guide to excessive agency; the linked source remains the evidence to inspect when the wording or boundary matters.
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