# Can an AI agent agree a contract on our behalf?

**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

1. **Write your standard terms down as lines**, each with the person who owns
   it.
2. **Let the agent repeat those and nothing else**, and say what any
   variation depends on.
3. **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.