Failure Modes in Planning: Loops, Drift, and Over-Planning in Agentic AI
Failure Modes in Planning: Loops, Drift, and Over-Planning
Looping: repeating the same step
Agents loop when they lack a stop condition or when tool outputs are ambiguous. Fix with step-level “done” checks and loop detectors (same action + same input N times).
Goal drift: solving a different problem
Drift happens when the agent optimizes for “being helpful” instead of the user’s goal. Fix by re-stating the goal at every major phase and checking outputs against it.
Over-planning: wasting time on perfect plans
Some agents generate 50-step plans for a 5-step job. Fix with a planning budget and “start small” policies: plan 3–5 steps, execute, then extend if needed.
Tool misuse
Using the wrong tool is a planning failure. Enforce tool schemas, add tool descriptions, and validate inputs.
Production safety net
Always have:
- Max iterations
- Max tool calls
- Timeouts
- Fallback answers
