Levels of autonomy
A scale of how much you hand over to an AI system or agent: nothing to act on, an instruction, an outcome, or an area to look after.
Autonomy is a setting you choose, not a feature of the model. The same product can run at different levels. As autonomy rises, decide how a person oversees it (see Human oversight).
Also called
- Autonomy ladder
- Levels of agency
Kinds
- Autonomous The top level of autonomy, where you hand an agent an area to look after and it acts on its own without a person approving each action.
- Advisor A level of autonomy where an AI system or agent only gives advice, and does not take actions or make decisions.
- Task runner A level of autonomy where you give an AI system or agent one specific instruction, and it acts only on that task.
Related
- Human oversight Human involvement in an AI process to monitor, govern or stop it, before it acts, after it acts, or only for certain actions.
How it connects
- Assistant can run at any rung Levels of autonomy
- Agent sits on the upper rungs of Levels of autonomy
- Human-in-the-loop fits the lower rungs of Levels of autonomy