Agentic AI is an operating model, not a chatbot
Why UK boards should treat agents as delegated authority, and what that changes about how you govern them.
Most organisations met generative AI through a text box. That framing is now the single biggest obstacle to getting value from it.
An agent is not a better text box. It is a system you delegate a task to, that plans, acts through tools, checks its own results and comes back when it is done or stuck. The right mental model is not "software feature". It is "new member of staff with a very specific mandate and a very good audit trail".
Once you see it that way, the questions a board should ask change completely.
What "delegated authority" actually means
The three failure modes boards worry about
A decision framework
// The shape every production agent should expose, regardless of vendor.
type AgentRun = {
goal: string;
plan: Step[];
toolCalls: { tool: string; args: unknown; result: unknown; ms: number }[];
outcome: 'done' | 'blocked' | 'escalated';
evidence: string[]; // what a human would need to check the work
};