AI Agents in Action Foundations for Evaluation and Governance 2025

Images: Adobe Stock Disclaimer This document is published by the World Economic Forum as a contribution to a project, insight area or interaction. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are a result of a collaborative process facilitated and endorsed by the World Economic Forum but whose results do not necessarily represent the views of the World Economic Forum, nor the entirety of its Members, Partners or other stakeholders. © 2025 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.Contents Foreword 4 Executive summary 5 Introduction 6 1 Evolving technical foundations of AI agents 8 1.1 The software architecture of an AI agent 8 1.2 Communication protocols and interoperability 10 1.3 Cybersecurity considerations 12 2 Foundations for AI agent evaluation and governance 13 2.1 Classification 14 2.2 Evaluation 19 2.3 Risk assessment 22 2.4 Governance considerations for AI agents: a progressive approach 25 3 Looking ahead: multi-agent ecosystems 29 Conclusion 30 Contributors 31 Endnotes 34 AI Agents in Action: Foundations for Evaluation and Governance 2