With Great Capabilities Come Great Responsibilities: Introducing the Agentic Risk & Capability Framework for Governing Agentic AI Systems

Abstract: Agentic AI systems present both significant opportunities and novel risks due to their capacity for autonomous action, encompassing tasks such as code execution, internet interaction, and file modification. This poses considerable challenges for effective organizational governance, particularly in comprehensively identifying, assessing, and mitigating diverse and evolving risks. To tackle this, we introduce the Agentic Risk & Capability (ARC) Framework, a technical governance framework designed to help organizations identify, assess, and mitigate risks arising from agentic AI systems. The framework's core contributions are: (1) it develops a novel capability-centric perspective to analyze a wide range of agentic AI systems; (2) it distills three primary sources of risk intrinsic to agentic AI systems - components, design, and capabilities; (3) it establishes a clear nexus between each risk source, specific materialized risks, and corresponding technical controls; and (4) it provides a structured and practical approach to help organizations implement the framework. This framework provides a robust and adaptable methodology for organizations to navigate the complexities of agentic AI, enabling rapid and effective innovation while ensuring the safe, secure, and responsible deployment of agentic AI systems. Our framework is open-sourced \href{https://govtech-responsibleai.github.io/agentic-risk-capability-framework/}{here}.