Agentic Covenants

Govern (GV) · Identity

Identity at the server side layer

external · Outside the agent entirely

Who is allowed to put this agent into the world, under what authority, accountable to what policy, with what retirement criteria?

What this cell does

AI Acceptable Use Policy names categories of agents allowed to exist. AI Governance Council holds authority to create new agent classes. Director of AI Workforce Transformation is the named org-wide owner.

Cell notes

Charter, Identity / Organizational

Structural question. Does the org have a written, signed AI Acceptable Use Policy that names the categories of agents permitted to exist, the body that authorizes new categories, and the named org-wide owner of the agent program?

Owner. AI Governance Council, signed by board representative or CEO.

Template fragment

This cell is satisfied by §1, §2, and §4 of ../../templates/organizational-policy.md:

  • - §1 Purpose and scope: names what this policy covers.
  • - §2 AI Acceptable Use Policy: names categories of agents permitted to exist and hard prohibitions.
  • - §4 Roles and authorities: names the AI Governance Council, the Director of AI Workforce Transformation, and the domain leads.

Audit prompts

Reviewers will ask:

  • - Who has authority to create a new class of agent? Where is that recorded?
  • - Who is the named org-wide owner of the agent program? When did they accept the role?
  • - Does the AUP exist as more than a one-time PDF? Has it been operationalized in domain charters?

Operational tie-in

The org-wide owner is the human ultimately accountable when an agent across any domain causes a serious incident. Their name flows into the org's incident-response runbooks, EU AI Act Art. 73 serious-incident reporting, and the board's annual AI risk briefing.

Citation

NIST CSF 2.0 GV.OC-01, GV.OC-02 (organizational mission, stakeholder priorities); GV.PO-01, GV.PO-02 (policy established and communicated). NIST AI RMF GOVERN 1.1 (cultural commitment), GOVERN 1.4 (risk management integrated). ISO/IEC 42001 §A.2 (AI policies), §A.3 (internal organization). EU AI Act Art. 9 (risk management system), Art. 17 (quality management system).

Crosswalk

NIST CSF 2 0GV.OC-01, GV.OC-02, GV.PO-01, GV.PO-02
NIST AI RMFGOVERN 1.1, GOVERN 1.4
ISO IEC 42001§A.2, §A.3
EU AI ACTArt. 9, Art. 17