Capability Control (AI)

Capability control is the practice of limiting what an AI agent is technically able to do, through tool restrictions, output filtering, API permissions, and execution environment constraints, rather than relying solely on the agent's own safety training to prevent harmful behaviour.

Capability controls are a defence-in-depth strategy: even if an agent's reasoning can be manipulated, the controls ensure it cannot take actions outside its permitted scope.

Closely related concepts include Ambient Authority, Jailbreak (AI Agent), Containment Strategy (AI), Agent Context Isolation. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.