Bounded delegation – Definition & Meaning

Definition of bounded delegation

: the practice of giving an AI agent only the authority, tools, data access, budget, time, and ability to delegate that it needs for a particular task, while keeping those limits enforceable and reversible
- The travel agent used bounded delegation: it could book an approved airline under a fixed price limit, but it could not change the passenger's identity details.
- Each sub-agent received a narrower permission set, so authority could not expand as the task moved through the delegation chain.

Origin & history

Bounded delegation predates modern AI in authorization and organizational design. The phrase became prominent in agent-security discussions in 2026 as researchers and designers described ways to restrict the authority passed from a user to an agent and from one agent to another.

Test yourself

Which of these is the meaning of bounded delegation?

Related terms

agent identity the identifiers, credentials, provenance, permissions, and delegated authority used to… agent containment the use of enforced technical boundaries to limit what an AI agent can read, change, execute… Agent Control Standard an open protocol for placing portable policy checks at points in an AI agent's runtime… multi-agent system a setup in which several AI agents, often with different roles, work together or check each… prompt injection an attack in which hidden instructions are slipped into content an AI reads, such as a web… human-in-the-loop describing a system in which a person reviews, approves, or corrects an AI's work at key…

Cite this entry

"Bounded delegation." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/bounded-delegation/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.