Default deny
The rule that an agent action requiring a checkpoint does not proceed if the approval infrastructure fails, the approver is unreachable, or no approval policy yet exists for the action, per the framework's own recommendation (MGF v1.5, p.29). The opposite, proceeding on a timeout, converts a checkpoint into a delay rather than a gate.
Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 2 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Agentic AI Governance: Applied Mastery.
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
The rule that an agent action requiring a checkpoint does not proceed if the approval infrastructure fails, the approver is unreachable, or no approval policy yet exists for the action, per the framework's own recommendation (MGF v1.5, p.29). The opposite, proceeding on a timeout, converts a checkpoint into a delay rather than a gate.
The stance that an agent holds no capability it has not been deliberately granted, so the question for every tool is "is there a reason to grant this," not "is there a reason to withhold it." The opposite, default allow, is granting broad access and restricting later, which is how agents become over-privileged.
Where it is taught
The exact lessons this term appears in. The first 7 topics of every program are free with a free account.
- Checkpoint Design · Meaningful Human Accountability, Agentic AI Governance: Applied Mastery
- Permissioning an agent: tools, budgets, and the actions it may never take alone · Agents Under Command, AI Governance: Applied Mastery
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.