ISO 22989 Revision Checker
ISO/IEC 22989:2022/FDAmd 1 Amendment 1: Generative AI Stage 50.00 Planning date 16 Feb 2027, an estimate 117 defined terms · 23 clause pages

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Terms related to AI · 3.1.1

AI agent

a self-operating entity that perceives its surroundings, reacts to them and acts to reach the goals it has been given

  • definition
  • Defined term
  • ISO/IEC 22989:2022/FDAmd 1
  • Last updated: 2026-10-21

What this term settles

The term looks ordinary until two teams use it differently. The entry removes that room by naming the thing, its inputs and its limits in one sentence.

Who it binds

Nothing here creates an obligation by itself. The obligation arrives when the firm writes AI agent into a control, a specification or a purchase order.

What to do in your practice

Put AI agent in the controlled vocabulary with its citation, an owner and a review date. Then test the inventory and the policy against the entry and record every place the firm uses a different word for the same thing.

Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

  • A controlled vocabulary entry for AI agent with the citation 3.1.1, an owner and a review date.
    An auditor can check that the term is controlled rather than assumed.
  • An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner.
    Shows AI agent in use in the artefact the firm relies on, not only in a glossary.
  • A policy or procedure sentence that uses the entry in this sense.
    The policy borrows the word but not the boundary, so a supplier system and an in-house model are treated as the same kind of thing.
Ask your teamWhich supplier or contract uses AI agent, and does the definition there match the one here?

Common gaps this page catches

  • AI agent is used in the AI vocabulary a policy reaches for first without a written definition, so two teams can mean different things.
  • A local synonym has grown up beside the entry and the two are now used interchangeably.

What to prepare before the amendment lands

Put AI agent on the agenda of the next AI governance meeting with two questions: where is it used, and what would show it is used correctly? Record the answers as actions.

How to test it here

Take one live artefact rather than a template, find the sentence or field where AI agent is used, and put this page beside it. Record the answer, the artefact and the date, because that record is the evidence and a glossary entry on its own is only an intention.

What this page does not claim

The page does not reproduce the standard, certify the firm or predict the wording the amendment will use; it states AI agent at the claim level "definition" and stops where the public record stops.

Common questions

What does AI agent mean in ISO 22989?
a self-operating entity that perceives its surroundings, reacts to them and acts to reach the goals it has been given
What evidence should we keep for 3.1.1?
A controlled vocabulary entry for AI agent with the citation 3.1.1, an owner and a review date. An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner.
Is AI agent a requirement?
No: AI agent is a definition or clause of a terminology standard, and it becomes binding only when a firm writes it into a policy, a contract or a procedure, or when another standard incorporates it.

Related units

Source. ISO/IEC 22989:2022, Clause 3.1.1, Terms and definitions. Open the ISO public entry. Retrieved 21 October 2026.

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:iso-iec:22989:ed-1:v1:en

ISO catalogue record 88145, the amendment status, stage and dates. Catalogue record 74296, the base standard.

Claim level: definition. The definition is in the public preview. This page states it in our own words and does not reproduce the text.

Built from the public ISO record and the public clause 3 entries. No clause text is reproduced. How the record is built.

Last updated: 2026-10-21 · Markdown version · Check your vocabulary