PAT-0100 - Authority Collision

A structural condition where multiple authorities claim governance over the same region without a declared precedence or resolution rule.

Primary Lenses

LEN-0150 - Conflict Lens
Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
LEN-0110 - Authority Overlay Lens
Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.

LEN-0270 - Reconciliation Lens
Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.
LEN-0210 - Invariant Lens
Verifies that declared invariants are structurally enforceable and not contradicted by observed structure.

Agent Gets Conflicting Tool Authority
An agent receives conflicting authority signals about whether, when, or how it may use a tool, connector, function, or integration.
Conflicting Instructions From Different Authorities
Instructions from different sources, roles, policies, prompts, tools, or workflow authorities conflict without a clear rule for which one governs.
Human Review and Automation Disagree
A human review result and an automated AI or workflow result disagree without a declared rule for resolving the difference.
Permissions Conflict After Being Combined
Permissions, approvals, roles, policies, or authority rules that seem valid separately conflict when combined in the same workflow or AI action.
Same Case Has Conflicting Policies
The same case appears to be governed by multiple policies, rules, or standards that point to incompatible outcomes.
Tool Rules and Prompt Rules Conflict
Tool, connector, function, or MCP rules conflict with prompt instructions, causing the AI or agent to face incompatible requirements.

Approval Depends on Output That Needs Approval
A required approval depends on an AI output or workflow result that itself cannot be produced or trusted until approval is granted.
Hidden Rule Overrides Visible Instruction
A hidden, upstream, system, policy, tool, or product rule changes or overrides the visible instruction the user expects the AI to follow.
Parallel Reviews Never Agree
Parallel AI, human, workflow, or tool reviews keep producing different results without resolving into a shared decision state.
Policy Decision Depends on Itself
A policy decision requires the outcome of the same policy decision before it can be made.

0.1.0 — 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z — Created

Promoted reviewed Pattern ontology entry: Authority Collision.

Receipt impact: None