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Bounded Autonomy

Glossary entry in Governance & power. Definitions, checks, and evidence for Bounded Autonomy.

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Quick takeaways

Autonomy granted only within explicit limits; approaching or crossing those limits must trigger escalation to design authority or a documented oversight horizon .

Definition

Autonomy granted only within explicit limits; approaching or crossing those limits must trigger escalation to design authority or a documented oversight horizon.

Scope
H. Governance & power. Structures that determine who sets moral boundaries and who can intervene.
Genealogy
Ethotechnics uses Bounded Autonomy to extend the h. governance & power vocabulary and connect governance, design, and policy teams.

Adjacent terms

governance autonomy escalation

Example corpus

  • A claims assistant can approve payouts up to $500, but anything higher is routed to a supervisor.

References

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Version

v1.1.0

Last updated

Jan 9, 2026

DOI

Pending Zenodo deposit

APA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. (2026). Bounded Autonomy. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/bounded-autonomy

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Bounded Autonomy." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/bounded-autonomy.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Bounded Autonomy." Ethotechnics glossary. Jan 9, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/bounded-autonomy.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_bounded-autonomy,
  title={Bounded Autonomy},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute Research Team},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/bounded-autonomy},
  version={v1.1.0}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Bounded Autonomy
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute Research Team
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/bounded-autonomy
ER  -

Scholarly metadata

Authorship

Contact: research@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Jan 9, 2026
  • Version: v1.1.0
  • DOI: Pending Zenodo deposit

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title + version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive snapshot: Wayback capture

Changelog

  • v1.1.0 · 2026-01-09 — Expanded scholarly metadata, operational tests, and provenance notes.
  • v1.0.0 · 2025-12-03 — Initial glossary release with stable permalinks.