Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Minds and Machines

Publication Date

2026

Keywords

retrieval-augmented generation, tool-calling agents, normative boundary, distributed agency, AI ethics, governance by design

Abstract

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems increasingly operate not only as tools for retrieving and synthesizing information, but also as agents that can invoke external functions, modify digital environments, and execute tasks across software systems. This development raises a specific normative problem: the point at which a model’s output ceases to be merely informational and becomes an executable intervention in the world. Building on existing work in Responsible AI, accountability, and human oversight, this paper argues that tool-calling architectures place particular pressure on these frameworks because they can fuse retrieval, reasoning, and action within a single operational pipeline. To clarify this transition, the paper develops a threshold account of performative action based on four criteria: causal efficacy, autonomy, irreversibility, and moral salience. It then examines the normative consequences of crossing this boundary, showing how executable outputs can fragment responsibility, weaken effective oversight, and produce miscalibrated trust in hybrid human-AI systems. In response, the paper proposes three governance-by-design heuristics for tool-calling environments: epistemic traceability, operational reversibility, and normative containment. Together, these mechanisms aim to make actionable systems more answerable by preserving visibility into how actions arise, by creating limited opportunities for interruption or correction, and by bounding the scope of permissible delegation. The paper concludes that reclaiming the boundary between knowing and doing is essential not to restrict intelligence, but to preserve the conditions under which increasingly capable AI systems remain governable within human practices of authorization, accountability, and repair.

Funding Source

This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Springer Nature.

Comments

First published in Minds and Machines (2026): https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-026-09782-z

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1007/s11023-026-09782-z

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