Professor Jack Graves presented “From Tool to Agent: The Intersection of AI Governance and Legal Fiduciary Duties in the Era of Agentic AI” at the NY Tech Summit.
The session explores the intersection of AI governance and fiduciary duty through the lens of agency, oversight, delegation, and organizational responsibility. Rather than focusing solely on technical governance frameworks, the discussion examines how longstanding legal principles—such as duties of care, loyalty, supervision, and the business judgment rule—may apply when agents, directors, and officers increasingly depend upon autonomous or semi-autonomous AI systems.
“Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving from a passive tool into an increasingly agentic participant in organizational task execution. As enterprises deploy AI to recommend, prioritize, negotiate, monitor, and even execute operational decisions, traditional governance frameworks face a fundamental question: when delegated judgment begins to shift from humans to intelligent systems, where do fiduciary obligations and legal accountability reside?” commented Graves.
Graves continued, “Using practical hypotheticals, the session challenges participants to consider whether agentic AI should be viewed merely as a sophisticated tool, as a delegated subordinate actor, or as something that may ultimately challenge the conceptual foundations of fiduciary law itself.”