6 ways teams can leverage zero-trust to manage AI agents

COMMENTARY: Agentic AI adoption has accelerated rapidly, with

of organizations either experimenting with or scaling

And for good reason. Goal-based AI agents have agency and can call tools and data to activate a set of instructions that can help achieve a goal. Agency helps them deliver value without human intervention, but it's also often the root cause of the “evil” they may unleash. Agency requires permissioning, which means the default position regarding AI agents is trust. And that’s the problem.

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Think of zero-trust as the fix. Never assume the good behavior of an AI agent, verify every action, and only offer the kind of access that’s absolutely required to perform a specific task. Organizations already apply similar restrictions on users and networks. Unfortunately, applications of zero-trust to AI agents are still lax, with

of organizations reporting how AI agents will go beyond their intended permissions.

It's no longer a theoretical risk and example cases prove there’s real risk. Google’s Antigravity agent reportedly