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AI agents hold the promise of automatically moving data between systems and triggering decisions, but in some cases, they can act without a clear record of what, when, and why they undertook their tasks. That has the potential to create a governance problem, for which IT leaders are ultimately responsible. If an organisation can’t trace an agent’s actions and don’t have proper control over its authority, leaders can’t prove that a system is operating safely or even lawfully to regulators. That’s an issue set to become more important from August this year, as enforcement of the EU AI Act kicks in. According to the text of the Act, there will be substantial penalties for failures of governance relating to AI, especially when used in high-risk areas such as when personally-identifiable information is processed, or financial operations take place.