Consent Chain Degradation in Embodied Multi-Agent Systems: Bridging the Gap Between AI Agent Governance and Robot Ethics

Consent becomes less meaningful as it passes through robot-to-robot chains: The paper identifies "consent chain degradation" (CCD) as a critical governance problem where human consent loses specificity, validity, and scope each time a robot delegates a task to another robot. For example, a human might consent to a healthcare robot performing a specific procedure, but if that robot then delegates parts of the task to other robots, the original consent may no longer adequately cover what actually happens.

Current AI ethics and robotics frameworks have a blind spot: While AI ethics researchers have studied consent for digital agents and human-robot interaction researchers have examined consent in direct human-robot encounters, neither field addresses the governance gap created by multi-robot systems operating in human environments. This leaves a significant regulatory vacuum for interconnected robotic ecosystems.

Existing laws don't adequately protect humans in multi-robot scenarios: The paper's analysis of four major regulatory instruments—the EU AI Act, GDPR, Machinery Regulation, and Revised Product Liability Directive—found that all four leave "core CCD dimensions unaddressed," meaning current legal frameworks cannot effectively govern how consent breaks down across robot delegation chains.

A new governance architecture is needed: The authors propose CoRVE (Consent Runtime Verification Framework for Embodied Agents), a three-layer system that tracks consent scope, monitors delegation chains, and assesses physical irreversibility to help maintain meaningful human oversight as robots delegate tasks to other robots.

Real-world scenarios demonstrate the problem is urgent: The paper illustrates CCD through practical examples in healthcare, domestic, and industrial robotics, showing this isn't a theoretical concern but an immediate challenge as robotic systems become more interconnected.