The agentic web, in which users interact with the internet largely through agents acting on their behalf, is now technically feasible. However, many of the consumer and social benefits that could be realized by online AI agents acting scrupulously in their principals' interest are currently obstructed by outdated laws, terms of service, and other less formal practices which allow online platforms to block and degrade agent access, often in secret. No distinction is currently drawn between "malicious bots" and AI agents acting with the express delegated authority of a user. For the agentic web to realize its promise, it needs not only the technical infrastructure of protocols and interfaces, but the normative infrastructure of a broadly-accepted and socially-beneficial set of laws, norms and practices governing agentic access to online properties. Building that normative infrastructure requires a society-wide conversation. This paper aims to help precipitate that conversation, to identify normative principles that can guide it, and to advocate for policies that enable users' appropriately delegated agents to act online on their behalf, with as few curbs on their doing so as is reasonable given the other legitimate interests at stake.

翻译：主体网络（agentic web）中，用户主要通过代表其行动的智能体（agents）与互联网交互，这在技术上已成为可能。然而，许多本可通过在线AI智能体严格遵循委托人利益而实现的消费者和社会效益，目前因过时的法律、服务条款及其他非正式惯例而受阻——这些措施允许在线平台秘密阻止或降低智能体的访问权限。当前，"恶意机器人"与经用户明确授权行动的AI智能体之间未作区分。要使主体网络实现其愿景，不仅需要协议和接口等技术基础设施，还需要一套广泛接受且有益社会的法律、规范和实践构成的规范性基础设施，以规范智能体对在线资源的访问。构建这一规范性基础设施需要全社会范围内的对话。本文旨在推动这场对话，识别可指导其发展的规范性原则，并倡导政策允许用户经适当授权的智能体代表其在网上行动，同时兼顾其他合理利益，尽可能减少对其行动的限制。