tech
Microsoft offers devs a better way to control AI agent behavior
The specification lets developer, compliance, and security teams define their own policies for agents to follow in portable policy files.
TL;DR
- Microsoft has released an open-source standard called Agent Control Specification (ACS) to control AI agent behavior.
- ACS allows developers, compliance, and security teams to define policies for AI agents.
- Policies can specify allowed actions, restrictions, human approval requirements, and logging.
- The specification aims to solve challenges of controlling AI agents deployed across different environments and frameworks.
- ACS integrates controls into a common governance layer, addressing fragmented approaches.
- Checks can be performed at various points in an agent's workflow, including before input, before tool calls, and before final responses.
- Policies can be written as single files, making them portable across different systems.
- ACS is available as an SDK with plug-ins for multiple popular AI development frameworks.