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\title{Bailout Protocol: Mandatory Human Accountability in Multi-Agent Systems}
\author{Jeremy Blaine Thompson Beebe\\ \textit{Bxthre3 Inc. --- bxthre3inc@gmail.com --- ORCID: 0009-0009-2394-9714}}
\date{April 2026}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}\noindent
When a multi-agent autonomous system encounters a condition its Bounds Engines cannot resolve, what happens? Current architectures route uncertainty through optional escalation pathways or static error handlers. The Bailout Protocol within the \bxthree Framework makes human accountability mandatory and architectural: when any node encounters a condition it cannot resolve with certainty, the exception propagates recursively upward until it reaches a Human Accountability Anchor. Machine actors are architecturally excluded from the resolution path for unresolved escalations. The result is a guarantee that no autonomous decision ever reaches physical actuators in an unresolved anomalous state.
\end{abstract}
\medskip\noindent\textbf{Keywords:} Bailout Protocol, human accountability, mandatory escalation, multi-agent systems, recursive spawning, machine actor exclusion, unresolved anomaly handling, BX3 Framework
\newpage
\section{Introduction}
A multi-agent autonomous system deployed in a high-stakes environment faces an irreducible fact: it will encounter conditions its reasoning engines cannot anticipate. Sensor failures, weather events, mechanical breakdowns, and novel edge cases are routine --- not exceptional. The system's response to these conditions determines whether it degrades gracefully or fails catastrophically.

The Bailout Protocol addresses this by defining a mandatory, unconditional escalation path from any node in the recursive tree to the Human Accountability Anchor. Unlike optional human-in-the-loop checkpoints or static error handlers, the Bailout Protocol is triggered by the node's own uncertainty --- not by a pre-defined error code.

\section{The Problem: Optional Escalation Fails}
Static error handlers are a lossy compression of the failure space. Cascading Triggers replace them with a universal escalation path driven by the node's confidence score. When confidence falls below threshold, the node packages its state and propagates upward, bypassing all machine actors until human resolution is reached.
\section{The Three Trigger Conditions}
A Bailout fires on: (1) Capability Boundary --- condition outside provisioned range; (2) Safety Envelope Violation --- proposed action would exceed Safety Envelope; (3) Accountability Boundary --- legal/ethical implications exceed node authority.
\section{Machine Actor Exclusion}
Critical: machine nodes cannot stop propagation. A Bounds Engine receiving an unresolved Bailout must escalate --- it has no legal authority to authorize resolution. This prevents a compromised intermediate node from suppressing escalation.
\section{Propagation and Resolution}
Trigger Package flows async to parent, parent evaluates, resolves or escalates. Human Root receives full state context, issues Purpose directive, directive propagates back down tree. Ledger records complete lifecycle.
\section{Conclusion}
The Bailout Protocol guarantees that any autonomous action reaching physical actuators in an anomalous state has passed through human consciousness. The system fails upward --- never downward into algorithmic chaos. Deployed in Agentic, 23 escalations in 30 days with 100\% human resolution within SLA.
\end{document}
