Agentic AI: Regulating autonomy and managing AI agent risk

Episode 1: AI agents are no longer theoretical. They are being deployed across industries, making decisions, executing tasks and operating with a degree of autonomy that is already outpacing the governance frameworks designed to manage them.   What are the use cases driving adoption? What governance challenges do they create? And what does the evolving regulatory landscape mean for organisations that want to move fast without moving recklessly?  Alex Shandro and Anna Rudawski, A&O Shearman specialists in AI and technology regulation, open this three-part series by laying the foundations: what AI agents are, why adoption is accelerating, and what organisations need to understand about risk, liability and regulatory compliance before they deploy.   Drawing on key use cases and governance challenges, they offer pragmatic controls for organisations that need to act with confidence.  Agentic AI explores the legal, regulatory and commercial implications of AI agents in business. In each episode, our specialists decode the risks, regulatory frameworks and practical steps organisations need to deploy AI agents with confidence. The series is designed for legal, compliance, risk and technology leaders navigating the fast-moving frontier of autonomous AI.