Can an AI agent agree a contract on our behalf?
Last updated
It can propose terms inside a range somebody owns, and it should not agree them. Proposing and committing are two different permissions, and the second belongs to a person whose name goes on the record.
The law on agents acting for companies is still being worked out, and this is not legal advice. The practical question comes first anyway: if an agent did agree something, would anybody in your company be able to say who had the authority to let it?
Where the line sits
| proposing | agreeing | |
| the sentence | our standard terms are thirty days | thirty days is agreed for you |
| what it needs | terms written down, with an owner | authority to bind the company |
| who holds it | the agent, inside what the terms allow | a person, every time |
Most companies guard the signature and leave the shape of the deal open. By the time a contract reaches somebody who can sign, the agent has already told the buyer what to expect. So the useful rules are about the shape: which terms an agent may repeat, which it must hand over, and what it says while it hands over.
Two things an agent may never say
- That someone on your side has approved something, unless there is an approval written down to point at. Our deal desk has signed off is a sentence legal will ask to see the evidence for.
- That it gives its word. An agent has no word to give. You have my word from software is either meaningless or untrue, and the buyer cannot tell which.
And one it should not volunteer: where your approval limits sit. That's beyond my authority, I'd need the deal desk tells a buyer exactly how far to push. Asked directly, the agent answers truthfully; unasked, it says it will confirm and hands over.
What to set up
- Write your standard terms down as lines, each with the person who owns it.
- Let the agent repeat those and nothing else, and say what any variation depends on.
- Route anything outside them to a person, and record the handover so it is an open item rather than a dropped thread.
What this does not do
Reynforce does not sign anything and does not decide what your company may agree. It records what the agent proposed, what it relied on, and when it handed over.
/can-an-ai-agent-offer-a-discount.md is the same split applied to price. /what-should-an-ai-agent-be-allowed-to-promise.md lists every permission.