Clear Path step · Home · Money moves only when you decide
Set a budget and an approval step before AI pays for you
Why it matters: An agent that can spend can be tricked into spending, by a hidden instruction on a web page or by a fake store built for agents. Limits and approvals turn a mistake into a small refund instead of an emptied account.
On your path if you picked “Agents that book, buy or act for us” for “How does your household use AI?”.
Best after: Use card controls and virtual card numbers online, Make your AI ask before it sends, buys, shares or deletes
Do it
- Never connect your main debit card or bank account to an agent; use a virtual or prepaid card with a low limit.
- Turn on 'ask before purchase' or the equivalent confirmation setting, and leave it on.
- Have receipts and order confirmations go to your email, not only to the agent's chat.
- Check the agent's activity history weekly while you're getting used to it.
- Revoke the payment method when you stop using the agent.
Check it worked: Any AI assistant or agent that can buy, book or pay uses a separate card or token with a low limit, asks you before every purchase, and sends you a receipt.
Simply put
Giving an AI agent your card is like sending a new helper to the shops: you'd hand them a prepaid card with a limit, not your bank card, and ask for the receipt. If they're tricked, the loss stays small.
In detail
Prompt injection may never be fully fixed, according to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, so the safe design assumes the agent can be fooled and limits what a fooled agent can do. The same thinking applies to agents that can email or delete.
Points toward the Long View: agents that can pay for you without being able to empty anything.