New Governance Frameworks Offer a Roadmap for Managing Risks Unique to Agentic AI
New Governance Frameworks Offer a Roadmap for Managing Risks Unique to Agentic AI
Publish Date: 2026-01-28 17:33:00
Source Domain: www.dwt.com
Agentic AI presents new opportunities for users and businesses to extend and expand the reach and effect of existing AI tools. Unlike generative AI or traditional machine learning systems, AI agents can take actions, adapt to new information, and interact with other agents and systems to complete tasks on behalf of humans. At the same time, these systems also present unique risks that require new approaches to AI risk governance.
In recognition of these new risks, on January 22, 2026, Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) released a draft Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Singapore’s framework follows the release of a similar framework by the WEF in November 2025. Both proposals recognize that current AI governance frameworks and best practices may not address the unique risks presented by agentic AI and therefore offer new guidance for governing such risks.
Although both the Singapore and the WEF proposals are nonbinding, voluntary frameworks, both authorities have previously published other AI governance guidance that has been leveraged by AI developers and deployers. Singapore’s framework is open for public comment and the IMDA specifically seeks feedback on its description of agentic AI systems and the governance controls outlined in the framework.
Executive Summary & Takeaways
- Agentic AI systems share common features. There is no consensus definition of agentic AI. However, these systems do have common features, including the ability to act with some degree of independence in both planning and executing defined tasks, using reasoning to execute multistep workflows, and often leveraging access to external systems, to achieve one or more user-defined goals.
- Unique risks presented by agentic AI may not be covered under existing governance protocols. Because AI agents have significant autonomy, the potential risks associated with deploying…
