#15 Build With Intention | Who's Watching Your AI Agents?

Hello Reader,

AI agents are getting powerful.

They can write code, send emails, update databases, and manage workflows, all without you touching a keyboard.

But here's a question no one's asking:

Who's checking whether what they're doing actually serves you?

Intention

AI agent frameworks today are built around one assumption: if the agent completes the task, the job is done.

But completing a task and serving your interests are not the same thing.

Think about it:

You ask an agent to fix a bug. It fixes it. Then it notices the auth module "could use some refactoring." So it starts refactoring without asking. The task expanded. You didn't approve it.

Or this: two agents running in parallel. One updates an API schema. The other builds frontend components against the old schema. Both complete their tasks successfully. Both are now working at cross purposes.

The agents did their jobs. The outcome still didn't serve you.

Insight

There's a word for what's missing: fiduciary duty.

In corporate law, an Officer of a company owes a duty of loyalty and care to the people they serve. Not a duty to complete tasks ~ a duty to protect interests.

That's exactly what AI agent systems need.

Not smarter agents. Not better prompts. A dedicated layer whose only job is to ask: "Does this action actually serve my principal?"

I've been calling this layer Officers.

An Officer sits between your agents and the outside world. Every action routes through it first. It can:

• Approve: proceed, this serves you
• Modify: adjust before executing
• Escalate: ask you directly
• Veto: block it, with a reason

This isn't a rule engine. It's judgment. Context-aware, principal-aligned governance.

I wrote a full article unpacking this, the architecture, why it matters, and where I think the industry is headed.

​Read the full essay here →​

Action

Next time you set up an AI agent, whether it's for coding, writing, or automation, ask yourself:

If this agent made a decision I didn't expect, would I know? Would anything stop it?

The agents are getting more capable. The governance layer hasn't caught up.

That's the gap worth thinking about.

A Note

If you're building with AI agents and want to think through architecture, governance, or where this is all heading, I'm opening a few spots for 1:1 coaching.

​Apply here →​

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What are you building with intention this week?

Build well
Sahil