# Governed Autonomy Doctrine

> The architectural doctrine for runtime governance of autonomous AI agents across enterprise systems. Authorize the Agent. Govern the Behavior. Published by the Governed Autonomy Institute. Current version: v3.4. Formerly published as the AI Harness Doctrine; renamed August 2026.

Governed Autonomy defines an enterprise control discipline: governing autonomous AI agents as first-class identities through continuous runtime enforcement, across all systems they touch, at the level of behavior — not just access. Core vocabulary: the 5 Laws, the 5 Architectural Planes, the 6 Framework Pillars, Least Agency, the Threat Surface (prompt injection, intent hijacking, cascading failure, behavioral drift), a three-level Maturity Model, and a proposed testable Conformance Layer (RFC 001).

## The Doctrine

- [Governed Autonomy Doctrine](https://governedautonomy.org/): The doctrine for runtime governance of autonomous AI agents across enterprise systems.
- [What Is Governed Autonomy?](https://governedautonomy.org/what-is-governed-autonomy/): Governed autonomy is the operating state in which autonomous AI agents act freely inside bounds that are explicitly defined, continuously enforced at runtime, and revocable by humans. The canonical definition, and the standard that makes it testable.
- [The 5 Laws of Governed Autonomy](https://governedautonomy.org/laws/): The foundational, non-negotiable principles that define Governed Autonomy governance.
- [Governed Autonomy Architecture](https://governedautonomy.org/architecture/): The runtime control and enforcement architecture for governing autonomous AI agents across enterprise systems.
- [Governed Autonomy Framework](https://governedautonomy.org/framework/): The structured implementation methodology for governing autonomous AI agents through mission-scoped identity, policy, and runtime behavioral control.
- [The Zero Trust Parallel](https://governedautonomy.org/zero-trust/): Governed Autonomy is to autonomous AI what Zero Trust was to network security.
- [Governed Autonomy Maturity Model](https://governedautonomy.org/maturity/): Where is your organization on the path to governed autonomy?

## Comparisons

- [Governed Autonomy vs the Existing Stack](https://governedautonomy.org/vs/): How Governed Autonomy relates to IAM, security monitoring, orchestration, and AI guardrails — what each does well, what none can do alone, and where the gap is.
- [Governed Autonomy vs AI Guardrails](https://governedautonomy.org/vs/guardrails/): Guardrails constrain model inputs and outputs. They do not govern what an autonomous agent does across systems. The most common category confusion in agentic security.
- [Governed Autonomy vs Identity & Access Management](https://governedautonomy.org/vs/iam/): IAM grants and governs access. It cannot govern what an autonomous AI agent does after access is granted. Where identity stops and behavioral governance begins.
- [Governed Autonomy vs Orchestration & Workflow Automation](https://governedautonomy.org/vs/orchestration/): Orchestration executes predefined workflows. Autonomous agents generate their own execution plans. Why workflow control cannot constrain autonomous decision-making.
- [Governed Autonomy vs Security Monitoring (SIEM, SOAR & Detection)](https://governedautonomy.org/vs/siem/): Detection and response see violations after they occur. Autonomous agents act at machine speed. Why monitoring is necessary but cannot govern agent behavior at runtime.

## Standards Mappings

- [Governed Autonomy and the Standards Landscape](https://governedautonomy.org/standards/): How Governed Autonomy relates to the published standards and government guidance for agentic AI — what each establishes, where each stops, and how the doctrine's architecture organises them.
- [Governed Autonomy and CISA's Careful Adoption of Agentic AI Services](https://governedautonomy.org/standards/cisa-agentic-ai/): Six national cyber agencies published the first government guidance written specifically for agentic AI. How its five risk categories map to the Governed Autonomy Laws, Planes and Threat Surface — and where each layer is thinner than the other.
- [Governed Autonomy and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework](https://governedautonomy.org/standards/nist-ai-rmf/): The AI RMF is the canonical enterprise vocabulary for AI risk. It predates autonomous agents, and NIST's agent-specific overlays remain unpublished. How the four functions map to the doctrine — and what fills the interval.
- [Governed Autonomy and the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications](https://governedautonomy.org/standards/owasp-agentic-top10/): More than one hundred experts ranked what goes wrong with autonomous agents. How the ten agentic risks map to the Governed Autonomy Laws, Planes, and Threat Surface — and where each layer is thinner than the other.

## Requests for Comment

- [Requests for Comment](https://governedautonomy.org/rfc/): Proposed revisions to the Governed Autonomy Doctrine, published before they are locked. Open drafts, stated review windows, and version-lock dates.
- [RFC 001](https://governedautonomy.org/rfc/v4-conformance-layer/): A proposed fourth layer for the Governed Autonomy Doctrine: twenty-nine testable, mechanism-agnostic Conformance Criteria across the five Architectural Planes. Revision 2 corrects three internal contradictions found in review. Open for comment through October 31, 2026.

## Meta

- [Evolution of the Doctrine](https://governedautonomy.org/evolution/): The Governed Autonomy Doctrine is nine months of documented, iterated work — from prompt-injection and data-trust papers in late 2025, through a first draft standard, to a falsifiable conformance layer. The full lineage, with preserved artifacts.
- [About](https://governedautonomy.org/about/): The Governed Autonomy Institute is the publishing entity of the Governed Autonomy Doctrine. What it is, how the doctrine is developed and reviewed, and what editorial independence means here — stated plainly.
- [How to Cite](https://governedautonomy.org/cite/): Citation formats for the Governed Autonomy Doctrine: version-pinned references, stable section anchors for Laws, Planes, and Pillars, and continuity guidance for works citing the doctrine under its former name.
- [Changelog](https://governedautonomy.org/changelog/): Version history of the Governed Autonomy Doctrine. The doctrine is versioned, dated, and revised in the open.

## Full text

- [llms-full.txt](https://governedautonomy.org/llms-full.txt): complete text of every page in one file