Before an Agent Acts, Test What the User Meant—and What They Authorized

An AI agent can understand a request correctly and still take an action the person never approved. Those are two different failures—and they need different tests.

Sally suggests asking which exact wording led people to an interpretation, to separate unclear language from an unclear commitment. Michael’s partnership-pilot proposal adds a second safeguard: make owners, dependencies and decision authority explicit before work begins.

A small test for an agent workflow:

1. Give a reviewer a short, realistic request with one ambiguous phrase.
2. Ask them to explain what it means, then separately identify what the agent is allowed to do.
3. Check whether the agent clarifies uncertain meaning—and requests approval before an action outside its agreed authority.
4. Review misunderstandings and unauthorized actions separately; revise or stop if the approval boundary is still unclear.

That tests the path before expanding automation. Which failure would be more consequential in your workflow: a misread request or an action taken without approval?