Characterizing AI Agents for Alignment and Governance

Understand

The creation of effective governance mechanisms for AI agents requires a deeper understanding of their core properties and how these properties relate to questions surrounding the deployment and operation of agents in the world.

• This paper provides a characterization of AI agents that focuses on four dimensions: autonomy, efficacy, goal complexity, and generality.
• We propose different gradations for each dimension, and argue that each dimension raises unique questions about the design, operation, and governance of these systems.
• Moreover, we draw upon this framework to construct "agentic profiles" for different kinds of AI agents.