Can AI Agents Deliver Verifiable Network-Wide Outcomes Across Authority Boundaries?
Updated 4 h ago · first seen 11 Sept 2026
paper_01M294GN9JC8X3WRS1PJKCC86S
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
- T1 · 4 h ago
- arXiv
- 2609.10181
- T1 · 4 h ago
- Category
- cs.NI
- T1 · 4 h ago
Abstract
AI agents are increasingly involved in network automation, where they can initiate configuration changes through mediated operational interfaces and assess the resulting state. Nonetheless, operational networks usually span many devices and administrative domains. Realizing an operator's intent requires coordinating agents with distinct authority scopes that define the resources they can access, the operations they can invoke, and the network state they can observe. This division limits the blast radius of an erroneous action but fragments the evidence needed to assess the network-wide outcome. Successful execution of a configuration action proposed by one agent does not establish that remote devices responded as intended or that routing changes reached the required devices. A valid observation may also become stale after a subsequent change. Before the coordinated operation can be declared complete, a trusted assurance layer must collect current observations from the required scopes and determine whether they collectively support the operator's intended network-wide outcome. To address the completion admission problem, we present EvidenceNet, a runtime assurance layer for deciding whether coordinated agent operations have achieved an operator's network intent. Its broker collects the post-change observations required by a completion contract, and its admission gate checks that the evidence comes from the required scopes, remains current, and satisfies the task rules. A verifier agent provides an additional assessment of the observation content. Experiments on live routing networks show that post-change state checks recognize successful outcomes that configuration-action records alone cannot establish. Controlled interventions further show that EvidenceNet rejects completion when otherwise satisfactory observations have the wrong source, have been substituted, or are stale.
Authors 3
Tianzhu Zhang, Chih-Kai Huang, Meikang Qiu
Specification
- Official page
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
- Arxiv announce type
- cross
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
- arXiv id
- 2609.10181
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
- Categories
- cs.NI, cs.AI, cs.SY, eess.SY
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
- Primary category
- cs.NI
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Each value shows its source, tier and observation time. Conflicting claims are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. How AI Atlas records facts →
Provenance
Attributed facts
9
Source tiers
T19
Freshest observation
4 h ago
Conflicts
None
No models linked to this paper yet.
- Authors
- Tianzhu Zhang, Chih-Kai Huang, Meikang Qiu
As of
Rewind the record: see this entity's attributes exactly as AI Atlas knew them on a given day.
Claim history
Official pageofficial_url1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10181 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Abstractabstract1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI agents are increasingly involved in network automation, where they can initiate configuration changes through mediated operational interfaces and assess the resulting state. Nonetheless, operational networks usually span many devices and administrative domains. Realizing an operator's intent requires coordinating agents with distinct authority scopes that define the resources they can access, the operations they can invoke, and the network state they can observe. This division limits the blast radius of an erroneous action but fragments the evidence needed to assess the network-wide outcome. Successful execution of a configuration action proposed by one agent does not establish that remote devices responded as intended or that routing changes reached the required devices. A valid observation may also become stale after a subsequent change. Before the coordinated operation can be declared complete, a trusted assurance layer must collect current observations from the required scopes and determine whether they collectively support the operator's intended network-wide outcome. To address the completion admission problem, we present EvidenceNet, a runtime assurance layer for deciding whether coordinated agent operations have achieved an operator's network intent. Its broker collects the post-change observations required by a completion contract, and its admission gate checks that the evidence comes from the required scopes, remains current, and satisfies the task rules. A verifier agent provides an additional assessment of the observation content. Experiments on live routing networks show that post-change state checks recognize successful outcomes that configuration-action records alone cannot establish. Controlled interventions further show that EvidenceNet rejects completion when otherwise satisfactory observations have the wrong source, have been substituted, or are stale. | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Arxiv announce typearxiv_announce_type1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cross | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
arXiv idarxiv_id1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2609.10181 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Categoriescategories1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cs.NI, cs.AI, cs.SY, eess.SY | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
PDFpdf_url1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.10181 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Primary categoryprimary_category1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cs.NI | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Publishedpublished_at1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sept 2026 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Claims are temporal and append-only: a new observation closes the previous claim (valid_to) instead of overwriting it. Conflicting claims from different sources are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. Methodology →
New paper: Can AI Agents Deliver Verifiable Network-Wide Outcomes Across Authority Boundaries?
arxiv
| Source | Document | Type | Tier | Last observed | Snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arXiv (Atom API + RSS) | rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.AI | feed | T1· Official | 2 h ago | 1 |
Tier 1 = official/primary, 2 = quality secondary, 3 = community, 4 = unverified. Every snapshot is archived; see all sources and the methodology.