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excessive agency

noun

also over-privileged AI agent or overprivileged agent

TopicSafety & Ethics First known use2023 Senses1

Definition of excessive agency

  1. : an AI security vulnerability in which a model or agent has more functions, permissions, or autonomy than its intended task requires, allowing an error or manipulated instruction to cause damaging actions

    • Giving a mail-summary agent permission to send and delete messages created a case of excessive agency.
    • The security review reduced excessive agency by replacing an administrator token with a read-only credential and requiring approval before payments.
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Origin & history

first known use2023

OWASP included Excessive Agency in its 2023 Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications and retained it as LLM06 in the 2025 edition. OWASP describes three common root causes: excessive functionality, excessive permissions, and excessive autonomy.

Editorial references

Sources & further reading

3 sources
  1. LLM06:2025 Excessive Agency OWASP GenAI Security Project
  2. Excessive agency - Generative AI Lens Amazon Web Services
  3. AI agents are gaining employee-level access. How partners can stop over-privileged automation ITPro · 2026-10-29

Test yourself

Which of these is the meaning of excessive agency?

Related terms

semantic privilege escalation a security failure in which an AI agent stays within its formally granted technical… agent authorization the security policies and enforcement controls that determine which tools, data, systems, and… bounded delegation the practice of giving an AI agent only the authority, tools, data access, budget, time, and… human-in-the-loop describing a system in which a person reviews, approves, or corrects an AI's work at key… AI insider risk the risk that an AI model or agent with authorized access, credentials, or delegated authority…

Cite this entry

"Excessive agency." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/excessive-agency/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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