Agent Non-termination

Example

After finding an option that satisfies the requirements, an agent repeats the same searches and comparisons without ending the task.

Distinctions and cautions

Non-termination is not merely a task taking a long time. Long-running work may be appropriate when progress continues and defined limits or completion conditions are respected. Premature Termination is the opposite problem. Planning or Tool-use Failure may contribute to non-termination, but no single cause is assumed.

Terminology note

What counts as unnecessary continuation may vary with completion criteria, resource limits, task design, and the amount of progress considered acceptable.

Related concepts

Planning Failure (034)—failure to manage the plan; Tool-use Failure (036)—incorrect use of tools; Memory Failure (037)—failure to handle state; Error Propagation (039)—carrying errors into later steps.

Evidence