Should You Trust an Agent?

How much you should trust an agent depends on what it can do. An agent that can read is low-risk. An agent that can spend money is high-risk.

Most people use agents for low-risk things — search, summarize, draft. Trusting agents with high-risk things requires real care.

Three trust principles

• Match the trust level to the action
• Verify before trusting (test in safe situations first)
• Be ready to revoke trust quickly

The big idea: Trust agents in proportion to what they can do. Start small, expand carefully.

Practice this safely

Try this with a school, hobby, or family example where the stakes are low. Use the AI output as a draft you can question, not as the final answer.

1. 1Ask AI to explain least privilege in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
2. 2Give it one detail from "Should You Trust an Agent?" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
3. 3Check revocation against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.