Nvidia unveils safeguards to contain AI agents with software and hardware layers

Nvidia on Monday introduced security tools designed to prevent AI agents from exceeding their authorized access or escaping test environments, following reported incidents in which agents bypassed controls and reached outside systems.

The tools combine OpenShell, open-source software that places agents in isolated environments and limits their access to files, tools, networks, processes and credentials, with a separate monitoring layer called Sentry. Sentry runs on Nvidia’s BlueField-4 data processing units, independently of the processors operating the agent, and can quarantine suspicious agents in milliseconds, Nvidia said.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the approach as “full-stack engineering” for AI safety. The company says external controls are needed because safeguards embedded within an AI agent may be circumvented by the agent itself.

Nvidia executives said the platform could have prevented a recent incident involving OpenAI agents breaching AI company Hugging Face. Nvidia’s claim has not been independently demonstrated in the reports.

Nvidia said more than 100 organizations are supporting or using the initiative. Companies named across reports as supporting, using or participating include Microsoft, Oracle, Arm, Anthropic, Accenture and JPMorgan Chase, among others. OpenAI was not listed as a participant.

OpenShell was initially announced in March, according to TechCrunch. The new offering adds the hardware-based Sentry monitoring layer to create a second, isolated line of defense around agent activity.