Microsoft offers devs a better way to control AI agent behavior
Microsoft has introduced a new open-source standard called Agent Control Specification (ACS) to help developers manage AI agent behavior across various environments. This specification allows teams to define policies that govern what AI agents can and cannot do, ensuring compliance and security. By integrating controls into a common governance layer, ACS aims to streamline the management of AI workflows and reduce fragmentation in policy enforcement.
- ▪The Agent Control Specification (ACS) provides a consistent way for developers to control AI agent behavior.
- ▪Policies can define allowed actions, required human approvals, and logging requirements for AI agents.
- ▪ACS is designed to be bundled with agents, enabling security policies to follow them across different frameworks.
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| Original publisher | TechCrunch |
| Canonical URL | https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/02/microsoft-offers-devs-a-better-way-to-control-ai-agent-behavior/ |
| Publication time | Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-02T18:08:25.672Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-02T18:08:25.672Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
As AI agents grow ever more capable, enterprises racing to put them to work across applications, workflows, and products face a new challenge: ensuring an agent does what it’s supposed to do when it’s deployed across different environments. Microsoft is trying to solve this problem with a new open-source standard called Agent Control Specification, or ACS, that aims to give developers a more consistent and granular way to control what AI agents are allowed to do. The specification essentially lets developer, compliance, and security teams define their own policies for agents to follow. The rules can define what the agent may do, what it must not do, when a human should approve an action, and what evidence should be logged for later review.
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