AI agent observability is the missing camera on the agents now acting in your production systems.

AI agents are moving beyond answering questions. They investigate incidents, call tools, analyse production data and, in some cases, apply changes. But when an agent makes a decision, can your team explain exactly what it did and why? Watching only the prompt and the final answer is not enough. The important part is everything in between: the tools it called, the information it received, the choices it made and the paths it decided not to follow. An unobserved agent is an unowned actor.

In this Tech Tuesday, Allan covers:

- Why is watching the prompt and the answer is not enough

- What an AI decision graph is

- The four parts every agent trace should capture: ask, decision, action, outcome

- How OpenTelemetry is helping standardise AI agent tracing

- Why does auditability not automatically make an agent safe

- The question every technology leader should ask an AI vendor: show me the trace

The principle is simple: there is no autonomy without auditability. The trace is the camera, not the gate. For any agent changing production systems, human approval should stay firmly in place.

📕 Metrics & Mayhem: A CTO's Guide to Observability That Actually Works is out now on Amazon and Kindle. Free chapter: https://www.masteringobservability.com/metrics-and-mayhem/free-chapter

Tech Tuesday from Metrics & Mayhem: one important technology topic, explained clearly and practically. New episodes every Tuesday.

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