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Before connecting an AI agent to an account, check exactly what information it can access and what actions it can take. Grant only what the task requires, prefer read-only access when possible, and require a separate review before consequential actions such as sending, deleting, transferring, or changing security settings. A promise in an agent’s interface is not a substitute for authorization enforced by the connected service.
What permissions should I give an AI agent?
Start with the task, not the agent’s feature list. Write down what it needs to read or change, then compare that list with the access being requested. For example, an agent that summarizes email may need to read messages; sending replies, deleting mail, and changing account settings are separate capabilities.
OWASP identifies excessive functionality, permissions, and autonomy as sources of excessive agency. Its guidance is to minimize the functions and permissions an agent receives and to enforce authorization in downstream systems. As OWASP puts it, “Implement authorization in downstream systems rather than relying on an LLM to decide if an action is allowed or not.” OWASP: LLM06:2025 Excessive Agency
- Purpose: What exact task are you authorizing? Could you avoid account access by using a one-time export or a narrower integration?
- Data: Which messages, documents, records, or account areas can it read? Is access limited to selected resources or does it cover an entire account or workspace?
- Actions: Can it only view information, or can it create, edit, send, delete, purchase, transfer, invite, publish, or change settings?
- Functions: Does it need an open-ended shell, generic API action, or extra extension, or would a specific task function suffice?
If a task is read-only but the grant also permits sending, deletion, money movement, or broad account administration, the grant is wider than the task appears to require. Ask whether a narrower permission, separate read and write grants, or per-action confirmation is available. Those controls are not offered by every provider.
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Should an AI agent have read and write access?
Read and write permissions are different risk levels. NIST’s 2025 taxonomy distinguishes read-only, constrained-write, and write access, and treats the environment an agent can reach as a separate dimension. As NIST explains, “Some tools may enable read-only actions, while others enable (“write”) actions that impact state.” NIST: Lessons Learned from the Consortium: Tool Use in Agent Systems
- Read-only: The agent can inspect information but should not change it. This is often sufficient for summarizing messages, searching files, or preparing a report.
- Constrained write: The agent can make a limited class of changes, such as creating a draft or updating a specific record. Check what is constrained: the action, the resource, or both.
- Write or administrative access: The agent can change state more broadly, potentially including actions that affect other people, finances, or account security. Grant this only when the task genuinely requires it.
Consider both the operation and the reachable data. A narrowly constrained action against an entire workspace may still expose more information than intended; read-only access to sensitive records can also carry risk. NIST’s taxonomy does not imply that permission labels are standardized across products, so inspect the actual consent screen and the provider’s current documentation.
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How do I check what an AI app can do with my account?
Read the authorization screen as a list of capabilities, not as a general approval for the app’s stated purpose. Permission names vary among providers and can change, so do not infer scope from a product name or marketing description.
- Match each requested permission to the task. Identify what data must be read and what changes, if any, must be made. Treat sending, deleting, publishing, transferring, inviting users, and changing security settings as distinct actions.
- Check the resource scope. Look for whether the grant covers selected records, a particular account area, the whole account, a workspace, or data belonging to multiple users.
- Check the identity and credential. Prefer attributable delegated access over a shared password or a generic privileged credential. Confirm which user or identity an action will appear under.
- Check duration and revocation. Determine whether access can expire and how to revoke it. Do not assume a particular integration’s token expires or can be revoked in a particular way unless its current documentation says so.
- Check confirmation and visibility. Find out which actions require approval, what details the confirmation displays, and whether activity is recorded in a history or log.
- Consider the agent’s inputs. If it reads webpages, emails, or files, treat that material as potentially untrusted, especially when the agent also has write access.
Credentials affect both security and accountability. NIST warns, “Credential sharing is a bad idea in all contexts.” A shared password or exposed static key can obscure who acted; anyone who obtains a broad, long-lived credential may be able to misuse it. Scoped, audience-restricted credentials and modern authorization approaches can help, but adopting a protocol alone does not guarantee fine-grained access. The implementation and policy still matter. NIST: Back to the Future: Why Agentic AI Needs a Strong Identity Foundation
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When should I require human approval?
Require a distinct review before an action with external consequences or substantial impact. An agent can prepare a message, for example, while the user reviews it before sending. Apply the same principle to actions such as deleting important records, transferring money, publishing content, inviting people, or changing account security.
A useful confirmation should identify the real action and its target clearly enough for the person to decide whether to proceed. A vague prompt—or an agent saying it has permission—is not meaningful review. OWASP recommends downstream authorization checks rather than relying on a model’s own decision, so the connected service or authorization layer should enforce what the agent is allowed to do. OWASP also recommends monitoring and rate limits as ways to limit damage.
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Is it safe to give an AI agent access to email, files, or other accounts?
Safety depends on the specific scope, actions, credentials, and operating environment—not simply on whether an app is described as an AI agent. One important risk is indirect prompt injection, also called agent hijacking: malicious instructions can be embedded in ordinary emails, files, or websites that an agent reads. NIST describes this risk and reports that its evaluation work supports adaptive, task-specific testing with repeated attack attempts. That does not establish that every agent is vulnerable in the same way or at the same rate.
Permission limits reduce the possible scope of harm if an agent is manipulated. Treat access to untrusted content as a reason to narrow permissions further, particularly when the agent can change state. No single permission label proves that an integration is safe, and the controls available vary by product.
How to compare two agents or permission setups
Compare concrete access properties rather than general claims about safety. The lower- and higher-exposure descriptions below summarize OWASP and NIST guidance; individual products may combine these properties differently.
| Factor | Lower exposure | Higher exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Permission level | Read-only or narrowly constrained write | Broad write or administrative access |
| Resource scope | Selected account areas or records | Whole account, workspace, or multiple users’ data |
| Functionality | Specific functions needed for the task | Open-ended shell, generic API action, or unnecessary extensions |
| Authorization context | User-bound, attributable delegated access | Shared credentials or generic privileged identity |
| Credential properties | Narrowly scoped and audience-restricted; short-lived where supported | Broad, static, long-lived credentials |
| Autonomy | Review required before consequential actions | External or irreversible actions without review |
| Environment | Restricted access to trusted sources | Open access to webpages, email, files, or other untrusted inputs |
| Monitoring and containment | Activity visibility, limits, and a clear way to revoke access | No useful audit trail or clear way to stop access |
NIST notes that broad role-based entitlements remain a challenge even with modern authorization systems. Inspect what the integration actually enforces and whether you can see and stop its activity; a particular protocol or vendor label is not proof of least-privilege access.
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