---
id: "quote-agents-operate-on-explicit"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶5"]
tags: ["ai-limitations", "context"]
related: ["claim-agents-cannot-infer-context"]
speaker: "Jen Stave, Ryan Kurt and John Winsor"
speakers: ["Jen Stave", "Ryan Kurt", "John Winsor"]
quote: "Unlike people, they can't absorb norms through observation or infer context from organizational culture. They operate based on what is made explicit. Nothing more."
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-new-27-teach-ai-your-decisions"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/teach-your-ai-how-you-make-decisions"
sourceTitle: "Teach Your AI How You Make Decisions"
---
# Agents operate based on what is made explicit

> "Unlike people, they can't absorb norms through observation or infer context from organizational culture. They operate based on what is made explicit. Nothing more."
> — [[entity-jen-stave|Jen Stave]], [[entity-ryan-kurt|Ryan Kurt]] and [[entity-john-winsor|John Winsor]]

A stark statement of the human/agent difference regarding cultural osmosis; the anchoring quote for [[claim-agents-cannot-infer-context]] and the reason [[concept-codifying-judgment]] is necessary. The enrichment softens the absolutism — see [[cp-agents-learn-norms-from-data]].