Agentic AI Email Triage
An email agent reads attacker-controlled content. Treat every message as untrusted input, separate interpretation from authority, and require approval for consequential actions.
Read the guide →Agentic AI email safety
Agentic AI email that can interpret without silently taking authority
Every message is attacker-controlled input. A safe email agent can summarize and propose, while code, policy, and people decide what it is allowed to do.
Separate interpretation from authority
Give the agent a narrow job and smaller tools
“Manage my inbox” is not a specification. Define the exact inputs, proposals, permissions, approval points, and prohibited actions.
Interpretation
Extract message type, requested action, deadlines, entities, uncertainty, and supporting evidence into structured output.
See the reference architecture →Policy
Validate recipient, destination, data sensitivity, tool, amount, identity evidence, and required approval outside the model prompt.
Connect policy controls →Execution
Use short-lived credentials, typed operations, rate limits, audit logs, and rollback for the final bounded action.
Start with low-risk triage →Prompt injection is an authorization problem, not only a prompting problem
An attacker can place instructions in the message body, quoted text, an attachment, a calendar invite, an image, or a linked page. The system should label those sources as untrusted data. A model can explain that the message asks for a file, but it should not gain permission to read or send the file merely because the text says so.
Permissions should be incremental. A summarizer does not need send access. A drafting tool can create text without choosing recipients. A scheduling assistant can look up availability before a person approves external attendees. A finance workflow can create a review ticket without changing bank details or releasing a payment.
Approval must show exact consequences. Display the destination, recipients, attachments, data leaving the system, and the proposed changes. Bind approval to those parameters so a later modification requires a new decision. Maintain a kill switch and preserve the full event trail for incident response.
Trust the repository for access control, not every sentence inside it. Retrieved documents and webpages can contain attacker-written instructions even when the storage system itself is approved.
Operating checklist
Adopt autonomy in measured stages
Run shadow mode first, compare proposals with real decisions, and expand only after permissions, logs, rollback, and incident response work end to end.
- Begin with summaries and suggested labels, not write access.
- Expose small typed tools instead of a shell or general browser.
- Require explicit approval for external sends and sensitive actions.
- Measure false automation, missed escalation, and data leakage.
- Rate-limit tools and keep a tested credential-revocation switch.
ObserveCollect the minimum evidence needed to describe the event.
VerifyUse a trusted system or independently known channel.
ConstrainLimit permissions, scope, duration, and affected recipients.
ReviewMeasure mistakes, remove stale rules, and document changes.
Signal Desk reading
Continue with a detailed guide
Use these long-form articles to move from the topic overview into a specific workflow.
Important Email Triage
A calm inbox separates urgency from importance. Use deterministic rules for known workflows, a review queue for uncertainty, and human judgment for high-impact actions.
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Spot a Phishing Email
Phishing detection is not a grammar test. This guide shows how to pause, verify the request through a trusted channel, inspect evidence, and report safely.
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