How can you use AI agents safely and responsibly?
Published 20/4/2026
AI agents are currently one of the most interesting and fastest developing areas of AI, and they are being used more and more in various organisations. A new section on the safe and responsible use of AI agents has now been published on the Suomi.fi for Service Developers website.
What are AI agents and why should you be aware of them?
Agents are virtual actors that are based on AI and language models and perform tasks independently. For example, they can verify information, make reservations, identify threats or compile data from different sources.
The use of agents has increased rapidly, especially in software development, and they are expected to change developers’ work tasks and requirements in the next few years.
Agentic AI – teams for tasks with multiple stages
The new section of the Using AI responsibly guide introduces the concept of agentic AI. It refers to teams formed by several AI agents that manage multi-stage processes independently with minimal human guidance. In theory, these kinds of agent teams can manage large entities, such as event organisation or complex service paths.
In fact, the possibility of agentic AI to automate entire demanding processes has created hopes for a significant increase in efficiency and productivity.
In businesses and the public sector, customer cases typically involve multiple stages and involve different datasets and steps. Especially in the public sector, cases also require lawfulness checks.
Risks associated with agents grow with their use
There are risks associated with AI agents. Questions about the information security and data protection of AI and its lawfulness are especially relevant in the public sector.
The risks remain low if an agent operates in an organisation’s internal systems and does not process sensitive data. The level of risk increases significantly when an agent is given permission to operate outside the organisation or when teams of agents exchange information widely in different APIs.
Potential risks include incorrect or poor-quality data, the management of data communications becoming more difficult, circumvention of determined rules and uncertainty on which party is responsible.
How to manage the risks associated with AI agents?
This guide includes practical instructions on how to use Al agents in a safe and controlled way. These include:
- Make sure that decisions are approved by a person
- Ensure AI competence in your organisation
- Extend agents’ permissions gradually
- Maintain a high quality of training and source data
- Monitor and evaluate the operation of AI agents regularly
- Assign responsibility to the organisation’s lawyers and management
- Involve staff when planning rules.
Guide aims for safe and transparent use of AI
The new section of the Using AI responsibly guide helps developers and organisations use agents safely, transparently and lawfully. At the same time, it supports responsible development in a situation where the use of agents is becoming more common rapidly and the technology is evolving constantly.
Produced by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, the Suomi.fi for Service Developers website brings together national solutions, good practices and clear guidelines for digital service designers.
Read more