---
title: "Least agency"
description: "The principle, in the OWASP agentic list, of giving an agent no more autonomy than its task needs: agentic behaviour deployed where it is not needed widens the attack surface without adding value."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/least-agency
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Least agency

The principle, in the OWASP agentic list, of giving an agent no more autonomy than its task needs: agentic behaviour deployed where it is not needed widens the attack surface without adding value [1]. The cheapest agent control is the agent not built, such as a fixed workflow with one model call in place of a planner.

- Developed in: [ch. 23, Governing AI agents](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents)
- Chapters: [ch. 23, AI Agents](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents)
- Contrast with: [Autonomy level](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/autonomy-level)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-least-agency

## Sources

[1] Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026 (ASI01 Agent Goal Hijack; ASI02 Tool Misuse and Exploitation; ASI03 Identity and Privilege Abuse; ASI04 Agentic Supply Chain Vulnerabilities; ASI05 Unexpected Code Execution (RCE); ASI06 Memory & Context Poisoning; ASI07 Insecure Inter-Agent Communication; ASI08 Cascading Failures; ASI09 Human-Agent Trust Exploitation; ASI10 Rogue Agents; Least-Agency; per-tool least-privilege profiles; tool poisoning of a legitimate tool's interface under ASI02, a tool compromised at the source under ASI04). OWASP GenAI Security Project. 2025-12-09. https://genai.owasp.org/resource/owasp-top-10-for-agentic-applications-for-2026/ (verified: primary)