Who is responsible when an agent gets it wrong
Agents have left the pilot stage and do real work in business software, health care, logistics, and finance. What remains is a question most organizations cannot answer: when an agent deletes a record or sends the wrong message, who is responsible? It is telling that Obsidian Security raised $85 million in August at a $1.1 billion valuation, and that more than 70% of its customers already let agents into third-party apps.
Source
Obsidian Raises $85 Million Series D to Scale AI Agent Security GrowthObsidian Security · Original published August 1, 2026
Agents have left the pilot stage and do real work in business software, health care, logistics, and finance. What remains is a question most organizations cannot answer: when an agent deletes a record or sends the wrong message, who is responsible?
Why the question opened now
While agents were pilots, a mistake was an anecdote. Since they started working in production, a mistake is an event with consequences, so a procedure, a record, and a responsible person are all required. Most organizations have the first, rarely have the second, and almost never have the third.
The market signal
Obsidian Security raised $85 million in August at a $1.1 billion valuation. The figure that says more than the amount is that more than 70% of its customers already let agents into third-party apps.
What is not confirmed yet
The $1.1 billion valuation is not in Obsidian's own announcement, which claims only that the company passed a billion dollars in value; SecurityWeek reports it. The $85 million round and the share of customers come from Obsidian directly.
Sources
Corrections
Corrected on August 23, 2026: the piece said nearly 70% of Obsidian's customers let agents reach business data. Obsidian's own announcement says more than 70%, and says it about letting agents into third-party apps, which is not the same thing. Both the share and what it refers to are now as the announcement states. The note on what is unconfirmed was rewritten with them: the $85 million round and the share come from Obsidian directly, while the $1.1 billion valuation appears only in SecurityWeek's report.
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