AI agent steering intervenes while an agent is running to redirect unproductive or expensive behavior. A system may inject a concise instruction, narrow the task, reduce tool output or require the agent to summarize progress.
Steering can preserve useful work when throttling or termination would cause failure. Interventions should be authorized, recorded and evaluated because poorly timed guidance can change task intent or hide an underlying harness problem.
ELI5
Agent steering means giving an AI agent bounded guidance while it is already working so it can change direction without discarding all useful progress. The intervention may narrow the task, correct a misunderstanding or ask for a progress summary.
For example, if a research agent starts collecting unrelated material, a person can tell it to focus only on primary sources from the requested period. The guidance should be recorded and should not quietly change the original goal or bypass an approval boundary.
How is agent steering different from halting?
Steering adjusts behavior so work can continue, while halting stops the run and prevents further actions.
What are examples of AI agent steering?
Examples include concise corrective instructions, context compaction, tool-output limits and requests to finish within a budget.
