Trust but Verify Your AI Agent

Last updated: 2026-09-24

Short answer: Trust but verify means allowing an AI agent to work while requiring a checkable execution record before accepting a consequential claim. Run the bounded task, open the receipt, inspect the observed result, and continue only when the evidence supports the next step.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-23. This page describes a reviewable evidence pattern and does not claim an outside result without upstream confirmation.

Run

Give the agent a bounded request with clear permissions and a defined stopping point.

Receipt

Keep the public record for each consequential tool call.

Check

Use the verifier and compare the result with the request and expected state.

Continue

If evidence is missing or the call is blocked, ask for a safe next step instead of silently assuming completion.

Live verification example

Open a public execution receipt or call its verifier. The example reports verification_status: verified for the stored record. It is not proof of an unobserved external outcome.

Frequently asked questions

trust but verify AI agent

Trust but verify means allowing an AI agent to work while requiring a checkable execution record before accepting a consequential claim. Run the bounded task, open the receipt, inspect the observed result, and continue only when the evidence supports the next step.

What can a verifiable receipt prove?

It can show what the execution layer recorded and what its integrity checks verify. It cannot prove an unobserved outside outcome.

How can another reviewer check the record?

Open the public receipt, compare the tool, time, result, and status, then call the verifier. Keep outside confirmations separate from the execution record.