Hyderabad, Feb 6 (IANS) Hyderabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar has voiced concern over the threat posed by ‘Agentic AI’ and called for appropriate security measures, trust framework and governance to tackle it.

The Police Commissioner, through a social media post on Friday, highlighted how autonomous, multi-agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems act independently across critical sectors. According to him, the risks arise from both malicious exploitation and unintended autonomous behaviour.

The IPS officer explained that the journey of AI has taken a new turn. Until recently limited to ‘chatbots’ that merely answered our questions or wrote text, this technology has now evolved to the level of ‘Agentic AI’—systems capable of taking decisions on their own and executing tasks.

“Autonomous robot agents have entered highly critical sectors such as banks, hospitals, and power grids. However, with these digital agents performing tasks independently without human intervention, there is widespread concern that we are at risk of losing control over them,” he wrote.

The Police Commissioner stressed the need for the common man to understand what this Agentic AI actually is. “For instance, if you ask a regular AI, ‘How is the weather outside?’, it merely provides information. But Agentic AI is different; realizing the weather is bad, it might close the windows itself and adjust the AC temperature. This means it doesn’t just think; it puts thoughts into action.

“Freezing accounts if suspicious transactions occur in the financial sector, altering medication dosages based on a patient’s BP and sugar levels in hospitals, and controlling machine performance in industries — these agents are doing such things on their own. Their specialty lies in discussing with other AI agents and working together to complete a task. This autonomy has now become a major challenge.”

Sajjanar stated that these agents, which take thousands of decisions in minutes without human supervision, can lead to massive danger if they make even a small mistake anywhere.

“For example, if an AI agent makes a wrong decision in the stock market, losses worth crores could occur in mere seconds. Similarly, there is a threat of cybercriminals hijacking the behaviour of these agents and forcing them to commit wrongdoings. There is also the risk of ‘Unintended Behaviour,’ where the agent misunderstands the task assigned by the owner and takes a wrong path to achieve the goal. That is why experts clarify that the reins of these ultra-modern agents must remain in human hands,” he said.

The top cop is of the view that every AI agent must have a precise ‘Digital Identity.’ “Just as a human has an ID card in an organisation, these software agents must also have identification. Which agent opened which file? When did it make changes? To whom did it send information? Every such movement must be recorded (Logging).

“Because of this, if an accident happens by mistake, we can immediately identify which agent caused it and rectify the issue. Ultimately, there must be strict rules (Governance) regarding how much freedom these agents should be given and what data they are allowed to access. ‘Trust Frameworks’ must be designed to ensure human permission is sought before making crucial decisions. While speeding up work through technology is important, security is even more critical. Tech experts warn that if we do not wisely control the speed of automation, the losses it brings will be greater than the benefits,” he added.

–IANS

ms/rad