Agent Safety Introduction
Understand why safety is critical for autonomous AI agents and explore common risks
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Effective agent safety relies on defense in depth: multiple independent layers that catch failures if other layers miss them. Never rely on a single safety mechanism.
The Swiss Cheese Model
Each safety layer is like a slice of Swiss cheese with holes (vulnerabilities). By stacking multiple layers, the holes rarely align—attacks that penetrate one layer are blocked by the next. This is why mature systems have 4-6 safety layers, not just one.
Interactive: Layer Simulation
Toggle safety layers on/off and run a simulated attack to see how defense in depth works. Notice how protection improves as you enable more layers.
Input Validation
Sanitize and validate all inputs before processing
Processing Guardrails
Enforce rules during agent reasoning and tool calls
Output Filtering
Validate outputs before delivering to users
Monitoring & Alerts
Track behavior and alert on anomalies
Production systems should have all four layers active. Each layer catches different failure modes. Input validation blocks malicious inputs, processing guardrails prevent dangerous actions, output filtering catches leaks, and monitoring detects anomalies. No single layer is sufficient.