"Proactive" personal agents: reminder, proposal, or acting without asking?
sujingshen · x · 2026-09-23
The author argues that marketing claims like "your personal agent proactively helps" conflate very different behaviors. Proactivity should be broken into layers:
- Reminder: notifies you—lightweight but does nothing
- Proposal: offers options and waits for approval
- Silent execution: completes tasks then reports, or doesn't report at all
- Judgment memory (often overlooked): whether it stays proactive after you've vetoed once
The gap between layers defines how much autonomy an agent grabs; the danger is invisible limits on uninvited actions.
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