What it means
Segregation of Duties is a core financial control mechanism that divides a high-risk workflow — specifically payment processing — into distinct, independent stages handled by separate entities. In the context of autonomous systems, this principle requires splitting the process into three independent functions: proposing a transaction, approving the transaction, and executing the payment. By enforcing this separation, no single person, software team, or artificial intelligence agent maintains end-to-end control over a money-moving operation. This structural division prevents unilateral financial actions and ensures that any individual component within the payment pipeline is checked by another, reducing the risk of unauthorized fund transfers, system hallucinations, or malicious exploits.
Why it matters for governance
It matters for governance because it prevents a compromised or malfunctioning autonomous agent from independently initiating and completing unauthorized financial transactions.
Example
A procurement AI agent drafts a purchase order for software licenses, a human finance manager reviews and approves the budget, and a separate treasury execution bot releases the funds.