# Directly Responsible Individuals (DRI)

> Source: <https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/12/directly-responsible-individuals/#atom-everything>
> Published: 2026-07-12 23:57:14+00:00

[Directly Responsible Individuals (DRI)](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/directly-responsible-individuals/)

I've been thinking about this term recently in the context of LLM-powered agents and how they fit into human organizations. I don't think an agent should *ever* be considered the DRI for a project - that's something that feels uniquely human to me, because humans can take accountability for their actions where machines cannot.

(See also [IBM's legendary 1979 training slide](https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/3/a-computer-can-never-be-held-accountable/) that states "A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision.")

Tags: [apple](https://simonwillison.net/tags/apple), [management](https://simonwillison.net/tags/management), [ai](https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai), [generative-ai](https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai), [llms](https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms), [ai-ethics](https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-ethics), [coding-agents](https://simonwillison.net/tags/coding-agents)