Technical Guide
Agent Capability Drift
Agent capability drift is the divergence between an AI agent's authorized set of tool access, permissions, and autonomous actions and what the agent can actually do at runtime. It arises when model updates, tool reconfiguration, prompt changes, or indirect permission changes alter the agent's effective capability without going through explicit reauthorization against its approved baseline.
Where Capability Drift Originates
Drift rarely originates from a single event. It typically accumulates from changes made at different layers of the stack, often by different teams, none of which individually triggers a reauthorization review.