An AI agent is different from a chatbot that simply produces an answer. An agent may retrieve information, initiate a workflow or take an action. That change raises a fundamental leadership question: who authorizes the action, who can reverse it, and who remains accountable? Before deployment, institutions should define a chain of command: permitted tasks, approval thresholds, access boundaries, logging, escalation and an independent stop mechanism. In banking and public services, these controls are not obstacles to innovation; they are what makes responsible scale possible. The decisive test is not whether an agent can complete a task, but whether an institution can explain, supervise and correct its behavior. This article expands on my Forbes Councils discussion of governance before autonomy.
About the Author
Hilda Maalouf Melki is an Oxford-certified AI expert, author of AI Simplified – الذكاء الاصطناعي ببساطة, an Official Member of Forbes Business Development Council, and Chair of the Artificial Intelligence & Innovation Committee of Lions Clubs International District 351 (Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine). Her work focuses on AI strategy, governance, institutional transformation and AI literacy. Website: https://hildamaaloufmelki.com/
Source / further reading: https://tollbit.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2026/10/23/constitution-before-code-why-ai-agents-need-a-chain-of-command/