Microsoft is adding a setting to Microsoft Entra called Users can create agent blueprints, and it is on by default. Tony Redmond reported it today, citing Microsoft 365 message center notice MC1506733 from October 13. He says it arrives in early November. If you leave it on, any user can create an agent blueprint. No admin role is needed.
What a blueprint is
An agent blueprint is the template Entra uses to create AI agent identities. Every agent identity in a tenant is created from one. The blueprint holds the credentials, and permissions granted to it apply to every agent identity created from it. Tony compares it to an app registration, which is a fair way to think about it.
Whoever creates a blueprint becomes its owner, and owners can create agent identities from it without holding any Agent ID role. So letting someone create a blueprint also lets them create agents.
How worried should you be?
Not panicked. Creating a blueprint doesn’t make anyone an administrator. Learn says Entra blocks agents from receiving the riskiest permissions, such as User.ReadWrite.All and Application.ReadWrite.All, and that neither users nor administrators can consent to them for an agent. Application permissions for an agent still need an administrator’s consent.
But agents can hold smaller permissions. Learn’s own example is an agent that reads a user’s mail or files on that user’s behalf, with that user’s consent. That is still your people’s mail and files.
So the worry isn’t one agent taking over the tenant. It’s agents you didn’t plan for, built by people you didn’t pick, holding access to your company’s data. Tony makes the argument that many Entra experts make about app registrations: very few people without an admin or developer role have a real need for the ability, and a compromised account hands it to an attacker. He also expects clutter, the way abandoned Teams pile up, but a solution like Seat Census can help with that.
There is a cost angle for small businesses, too. Learn says Agent ID is available to all Entra customers, but Conditional Access for agents needs a Microsoft Agent 365 license. That license comes with Microsoft 365 E7 and is an add-on for Business Premium and E5. Without it, you have fewer ways to control an agent after it exists, so limiting who can create one matters more. I found no license requirement on the setting itself.
Check it and switch it off
You need to be at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
- Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center.
- Go to Entra ID > Users > User settings.
- Set Users can create agent blueprints to No and save.
If you don’t see the setting yet, it hasn’t reached your tenant. Set a reminder for the first week of November and look again.
With the setting off, only administrators and people who hold the Agent ID Developer role can create blueprints. Tony reports that existing blueprints aren’t affected. If someone on your team genuinely builds agents, give them that role. Everyone else doesn’t need it.
Check the neighboring settings
The same Learn article covers two related defaults:
- Users can register applications. Set it to No on the same User settings page.
- User consent. Under Enterprise apps > Consent and permissions, Learn’s way to turn it off is the option Do not allow user consent.
That is the strictest choice. In my post on auditing AI app consent, I covered a middle option: allow consent only for apps from verified publishers and for permissions you classify as low impact. Pick the one that fits how your people work.
See what already exists
The setting stops new blueprints. It doesn’t tell you what is already there. Open Entra ID > Agents > Agent blueprints. The list shows each blueprint, its status, and how many agent identities it has created. Open one and check three things:
- Who owns it and who sponsors it. Learn says every blueprint needs a sponsor, the person or group accountable for the agent.
- What permissions it holds. The Granted permissions page splits them into admin consent and user consent.
- Which agent identities it has created. The Linked agent identities page lists them with their owners and sponsors.
Not every entry is a problem. Microsoft’s own products create agent identities too. Learn says each agent built in Copilot Studio gets an agent identity, with its creator recorded as the sponsor. You are looking for the ones nobody can explain.
One caveat
Microsoft’s own pages disagree about the current default. The article on restricting who can create apps and agents says users can create blueprints by default. The article on how agent identities are created says creating one in the admin center or with command-line tools requires the Agent ID Developer or Agent ID Administrator role. Agent ID is also still partly in preview: the blueprint wizard in the admin center is labeled Preview.
So don’t assume either page describes your tenant. Look at your own setting.
This is the same habit as in my posts on checking who already holds access and on agents that trust each other too much. Know what can create access, and keep that list short. Blueprints are where agents start, which makes this a cheap place to begin.
