Control before, proof after: an accountability primitive for AI agents

Short summary

AI agents with real capabilities need unified authorization before action and tamper-evident records after. This post proposes an accountability primitive combining synchronous policy enforcement with asynchronous, cryptographically-signed audit logging that survives auditor scrutiny. The design uses post-quantum signatures and per-record crypto-shred to create long-term verifiable records while respecting data erasure.

• •Authorization and audit must be unified, not separate systems that drift over time
• •Enforce policy synchronously before action; record proof asynchronously without blocking agent execution
• •Use post-quantum cryptography and per-record erasure to create auditor-proof records years later

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.