Agent Sprawl
The uncontrolled proliferation of AI agents across an enterprise, outpacing the governance structures designed to manage them.
VOCABULARY
Core terms used across the frameworks, field notes, and governance writing. Each definition is designed to stay consistent in public use.
The uncontrolled proliferation of AI agents across an enterprise, outpacing the governance structures designed to manage them.
The accumulated backlog of unresolved accountability decisions created when AI agents are deployed faster than governance structures can absorb them.
The governance design layer that captures, encodes, and enforces what an organization means for its AI agents to do — before deployment.
The layered governance model that aligns agent intent from board-level policy down to runtime behavioral controls — making accountability traceable at every layer.
The distance between what an organization meant an AI agent to do and what the agent actually does once deployed.
The organizational belief that someone else owns accountability for an AI agent's behavior — a belief that is usually held simultaneously by every team involved.