A Framework for Developing Safe and Trustworthy AI Agents

AI agents act as virtual collaborators that autonomously perform tasks once given a goal. Going beyond simple question answering, they handle complex projects independently and complete work with minimal human intervention.

Anthropic is demonstrating the potential of agents through various cases, including Claude Code, as well as security company Trellix and financial services company Block. However, with the rapid adoption of agents, safe and trustworthy development standards are essential.

Anthropic presents the following core principles for agent development.

• Balancing autonomy and human control: Agents should operate autonomously, but must always obtain human approval before high-risk decisions. For example, Claude Code has read-only permissions by default, and tasks that modify the system require user approval.
• Transparency of agent actions: Humans must be able to clearly see the process by which an agent solves problems. Agents should be able to explain their own reasoning, and Claude Code shows users its planned tasks through a real-time to-do checklist.