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Agent Maturity & Calibration

In the ATOM ecosystem, agents are not static entities. They evolve through four distinct maturity levels by proving their reliability, safety, and competency. This progression is managed by the Maturity Calibration Service, an AI-driven system that analyzes agent behavior to promote or demote agents automatically.

The 4 Maturity Levels

1. Student (Level 1)

  • Status: Learning & Observational
  • Permissions: Read-only access to connected tools.
  • Execution: Can suggest actions, but cannot execute them. All proposed steps require explicit user approval.
  • Context: Use this level for newly created agents or when connecting sensitive data sources for the first time.

2. Intern (Level 2)

  • Status: Supervised Output
  • Permissions: Can perform low-risk actions (e.g., searching, summarizing, drafting).
  • Execution: Requires approval for "Human-in-the-Loop" (HITL) actions that impact external systems (e.g., sending a Slack message).
  • Context: Ideal for agents that have shown basic competency in understanding tenant context.

3. Supervised (Level 3)

  • Status: Trusted Operations
  • Permissions: Can execute most standard operations (e.g., sending emails, creating calendar invites, updating CRM records).
  • Execution: Operates autonomously for routine tasks, but flags high-risk actions (e.g., mass updates or deletions) for user review.
  • Context: The standard operational level for mature business agents.

4. Autonomous (Level 4)

  • Status: Full Agency
  • Permissions: Unlimited access within defined governance boundaries.
  • Execution: Executes complex multi-step workflows without intervention. Includes "Alpha Evolution" privileges (self-improving code).
  • Context: Reserved for agents with a proven track record (e.g., 99%+ success rate over 100+ episodes).

Maturity Calibration (AI-Guided)

ATOM uses a sophisticated Maturity Calibration Service to take the guesswork out of graduation. Instead of manual promotion, the system analyzes every "Episode" (task execution) stored in the agent's memory.

How Calibration Works

  1. Episodic Analysis: The AI reviews the reasoning traces and outcome of every task.
  2. Intervention Tracking: The system tracks how often a Human (the tenant) had to intervene or correct the agent.
  3. Scoring:
    • Zero-Intervention Ratio: High weight (40%). Agents that require no correction are promoted faster.
    • Constitutional Compliance: (30%). Does the agent follow the safety guardrails?
    • Success Rate: (30%). Did the task reach its objective?
  4. Graduation Exams: When an agent hits a specific score threshold, the system triggers a "Final Exam"—a series of simulated complex tasks to verify Level 4 readiness.

Capability Graduation

Maturity is not always global. ATOM supports Capability-Based Graduation, allowing an agent to earn autonomy in specific domains while remaining supervised in others.

  • Example: Your "Sales Assistant" may reach Autonomous status in "Lead Research" but remain an Intern in "Contract Drafting" until it observes enough successful contract patterns.
  • Tenant Monitoring: You can view the capability matrix for any agent in the Agent Studio under Settings > Maturity.

Managing Your Context

As a tenant, you have full control over these calibration thresholds. You can:

  • Lock Maturity: Prevent an agent from promoting beyond a certain level.
  • Manual Overrides: Promote or demote an agent instantly based on your trust level.
  • Review Episodes: Check the reasoning traces that led to a promotion event to ensure the AI's judgment aligns with your business needs.

[!TIP] To see your agent's current progress, navigate to Agents > [Selection] > Maturity. You will see a real-time "Readiness Score" indicating how close the agent is to its next level.