‘Agentic AI can act on its own’, Sajjanar sounds alarm
Hyderabad police issue advisory as autonomous AI enters banking and healthcare
Hyderabad City Police on Friday cautioned the citizens against ‘Agentic Artificial Intelligence’. The Hyderabad city police commissioner VC Sajjanar said autonomous robot agents have entered highly critical sectors such as banks, hospitals and power grids. These digital agents perform tasks independently without human intervention, there is widespread concern that we are at risk of losing control over them. The Commissioner expressed concerns over the use of AI for assistance in banking and healthcare sectors.
The Commissioner issued an advisory on social media and posted “The journey of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken a new turn. Until recently limited to 'chatbots' that merely answered our questions or wrote text for us, this technology has now evolved to the level of 'Agentic AI'—systems capable of taking decisions on their own and executing tasks,” Sajjanar posted on X.
Explaining about the Agentic AI, the Commissioner said the common man needs 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; realising the weather is bad, it might close the windows itself and adjust the AC temperature.
He said, “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. These agents, who make thousands of decisions in minutes without human supervision, can lead to massive danger if they make even a small mistake anywhere. There is a threat of cybercriminals hijacking the behavior 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.”
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. Tech experts warn that if we do not wisely control the speed of automation, the losses it brings will be greater than the benefits.
