01CONTEXT ACCESS

Define what the system may know before deciding what it may change.

A delegate can be allowed to read the customer, schedule and project records needed to prepare a recommendation while remaining unable to edit financial terms or send an external message.

02EXECUTION AUTHORITY

Grant authority at the action level.

Low-risk actions can be delegated directly while commitments, payments, destructive changes or policy exceptions remain approval-gated or prohibited.

03APPROVAL

Approval should sit inside the workflow, not outside the system.

The AI can gather evidence, prepare the proposed action and explain the context, then stop at the person or role that owns the decision.

04ESCALATION

Unusual conditions need an explicit handoff.

A bounded delegate should know when it lacks authority, evidence or confidence and route the work to a named owner rather than improvise beyond its responsibility.

05AUDIT

Record what was proposed, approved and executed.

NIST's playbook emphasizes documentation, accountability and oversight. An operational audit should make it possible to inspect actions, approvals, exceptions and outcomes after the fact.

06REVIEW

Authority should change when evidence changes.

Successful bounded execution can justify a wider delegation later; repeated exceptions can justify tighter limits. Authority is an operating policy that should be reviewed, not a one-time feature toggle.

DIRECT ANSWERS

The practical questions behind the concept.

What is delegated authority for AI?: It is the explicit set of actions an organization allows an AI system to take under defined conditions, separate from the system's technical ability to perform them.
When should AI require human approval?: When the action is outside delegated authority, carries material risk, creates an external commitment, changes protected data or policy, or the organization simply chooses to retain the decision.
How is permission different from authority?: A technical permission may make an API or record reachable. Organizational authority determines whether that capability may be used for a particular responsibility and action.
What should be audited?: The relevant context, proposed and executed actions, approvals or overrides, exceptions or escalations and resulting outcomes.

SOURCES & METHOD

What is sourced, and what is Voyager analysis.

NIST AI RMF and AIRC sources support the governance, delegated-authority, human-oversight and documentation principles. The specific context, action, approval and escalation model is Voyager analysis and product design.

GO DEEPER

How AI authorization and approvals should work inside a business.

Define what the system may know before deciding what it may change.

Grant authority at the action level.

Approval should sit inside the workflow, not outside the system.

Unusual conditions need an explicit handoff.

Record what was proposed, approved and executed.

Authority should change when evidence changes.

The practical questions behind the concept.

Draw the authority line around one AI responsibility.

How AI authorization and approvals should work inside a business.

Define what the system may know before deciding what it may change.

Grant authority at the action level.

Approval should sit inside the workflow, not outside the system.

Unusual conditions need an explicit handoff.

Record what was proposed, approved and executed.

Authority should change when evidence changes.

The practical questions behind the concept.

What is sourced, and what is Voyager analysis.

See how Voyager handles it.

Draw the authority line around one AI responsibility.