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AI agents can retrieve information, automate workflows, develop software, and support cybersecurity operations—but giving an agent access to company systems also means deciding whose authority it uses and how its actions will be controlled. NIST identifies security concerns as a barrier to adoption and describes unresolved identity and governance challenges. Its reviewed publications do not establish what percentage of companies are ready, so “most companies aren’t ready” should be read as an editorial warning, not a measured finding.
What makes an AI agent different from an AI assistant?
An agent may do more than provide an answer: depending on the system and its configuration, it may retrieve information, use tools, or carry out steps in a workflow. NIST describes these capabilities as possibilities, not behavior shared by every agent. The governance problem arises when an agent can act in systems where access has consequences: its identity, permissions, and actions need to be distinguishable from those of the person or service operating it.
Readiness, in practical terms, means being able to determine which agent acted, whose authority it used, what data and tools it could reach, what it was permitted to do, and how its actions can be reviewed. This is not a guarantee of safety or a certification; it is a way to make the control problem concrete.
Why is it difficult to let agents act safely?
NIST’s May 18, 2026 summary of responses to a security request for information says: “Commenters widely agreed that AI agents present novel security threats and that these security concerns present a barrier to adoption.” The summary also says existing cybersecurity practices remain useful but need adaptation for agents.
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One challenge is identity. A person’s account is not a good stand-in for every agent they start: shared credentials can obscure which actor performed an action, while broad or long-lived credentials can expose more access than a task requires. Agents may also be temporary, operate across systems, or delegate work to other agents, making it harder to follow the chain of authority and reconstruct what happened.
NIST’s review of comments found support for building on existing identity standards, alongside concerns about scale, delegation, and auditability. That points toward extending established controls rather than assuming current practices will work unchanged—or that a new agent platform solves the identity problem by itself.
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Which agent deployment model are you governing?
NIST’s comment summary distinguishes three deployment boundaries. They matter because the organization’s control over the agent, its identity, and its access can differ. The table describes the governance questions raised by each model; it does not imply that every deployment handles credentials or prompts in the same way.
| Deployment model | Who controls the agent? | Identity and access questions | What the organization can verify or revoke |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise-owned internal agent | The enterprise operates it for internal use. | Which employee or system is responsible for it? What data, tools, and actions does its task require? | The organization can set its own access rules, but must make the agent’s actions and delegated work traceable. |
| Enterprise-owned agent serving external users | The enterprise operates the agent, but outside users interact with it. | How are external-user requests separated from the agent’s enterprise authority? Which actions can it take on behalf of a user? | The enterprise controls the agent, but must govern how external prompts can lead to access or actions in its systems. |
| Externally owned agent interacting with enterprise services | An outside party owns or operates the agent. | Who issued its identity and credentials, and what authority will the enterprise accept from it? | The enterprise may be able to limit or revoke its own service access; it does not control the external agent itself. |
The distinctions above follow the three categories in NIST’s comment summary. The specific prompt, credential, and verification arrangements depend on the implementation; the summary does not prescribe one universal design.
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What controls should be in place before granting access?
NIST’s identity guidance recommends treating agents as distinct entities rather than allowing them to act through shared human accounts. Bill Fisher, a security engineer at NIST’s NCCoE, and Ryan Galluzzo, NIST Digital Identity Program Lead, write: “For organizations to have confidence in transactions, agents need to be treated like first-class entities with their own unique identifiers, credentials, and associated entitlements that are bound to and by the identity of the user or system operating the agent.”
- Give each agent a distinct identity. Use credentials attributable to the agent and bind its entitlements to the user or system responsible for it. Avoid shared employee credentials.
- Limit authority to the task. Use scoped, delegated permissions and least entitlement. Avoid broad API keys and static, long-lived credentials where stronger authorization patterns are available.
- Keep an audit trail across systems and delegation. Record which agent acted, under whose authority, and what it did—including when an agent is ephemeral or delegates work. The record needs to support review, not merely show that a service account was used.
- Set the boundary before connecting systems. Decide whether the agent is internal, enterprise-operated for outside users, or externally owned. That choice changes which party controls the agent and which access the enterprise can directly govern.
- Build on identity standards, then test for gaps. Existing standards and practices provide a starting point, but scale, agent behavior, and delegation may expose implementation gaps. NIST’s project is intended to test this standards-based approach and identify critical gaps.
How can an organization turn those controls into a deployment decision?
- Define the task and the boundary. Document what the agent is meant to do, who operates it, who supplies requests, and which enterprise services are involved.
- Assign responsibility and identity. Name the user or system accountable for the agent and establish a distinct agent identity with credentials linked to that responsibility.
- Grant only task-specific access. Identify the minimum data, tools, and actions needed. Use delegated, scoped authority rather than a broad standing credential.
- Plan for delegation and review. Determine how actions by the agent or any subagents will be attributed and audited, and how access can be withdrawn when no longer needed.
- Check the design against established identity practices. Where the agent’s scale, behavior, or delegation cannot be handled clearly, treat that as a gap to resolve before expanding access—not as evidence that a checklist alone makes deployment safe.
This sequence is a practical application of NIST’s identity and governance concerns, not a NIST-certified checklist. NIST’s work remains in progress.
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Does NIST say most companies are unready?
No representative percentage of company readiness is established in the reviewed NIST materials. The security RFI summary reports stakeholder concerns, while the identity project materials describe feedback, standards preferences, and planned work. NIST’s NCCoE says it received more than 600 responses to its concept paper; that response count is not a survey of companies’ deployment readiness.
NIST’s AI Agent Standards Initiative, announced February 17, 2026, outlines work on standards, open protocols, security, and identity. Its published work supports a narrower conclusion than a readiness statistic: agents create identity and governance questions organizations need to address, and existing security practices need adaptation to meet them.
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