Autonomous AI is moving beyond purely digital actions into systems capable of producing physical effects. That transition changes the severity of the outcome, but not the underlying authority question.
Whether the proposed effect is merging code, deploying software, moving a robot, operating equipment or triggering another physical action, an enterprise still needs to know who authorized the objective, which agent is acting, what target is affected, what constraints apply and whether this exact effect remains inside the mandate.
One authority model across different effects
The authority abstraction should remain effect-neutral and support digital, physical and eventually hybrid or quantum environments.
Physical systems add additional constraints such as device identity, operating mode, location, safety interlocks, effect severity, reversibility and emergency revocation.
Before the effect occurs
The critical point is timing. Authority should be resolved before the consequential physical effect occurs, not reconstructed only after the fact.
Digital authority and physical authority should share the same underlying chain of custody.
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