Retrieval permissions should follow the user all the way to the answer

An AI assistant may combine several systems with different access models. Buyers need to test the complete request path rather than assume that source permissions automatically apply everywhere.

Identify where authorisation is enforced

Map the user identity, retrieval request and source filtering. Explain which service acts on whose behalf and how permissions are refreshed when roles change.

PostgreSQL’s row-security documentation illustrates that access controls have explicit scope and exceptions. It does not establish that a separate AI retrieval system inherits those controls.

An illustrative assistant serving several customer accounts must prevent one account’s information from appearing in another account’s answer, even when the underlying content is semantically similar.

Test with different legitimate roles

Use authorised test identities representing the actual access groups. Ask overlapping questions and examine retrieved material as well as final answers.

Include revoked access and changed membership. A successful initial setup does not show that later permission changes propagate correctly.

Do not rely on an instruction telling the model to hide confidential information as the only control. Appropriate security architecture should constrain what information and actions are available in the first place.

Preserve evidence without broadening exposure

Log enough to investigate authorisation decisions while applying suitable controls to the logs themselves. A debugging record can become another disclosure route if it stores restricted source content indiscriminately.

Test permission removal after the user has already asked related questions. Cached context and retained conversation state may behave differently from a fresh retrieval request. The appropriate design must account for those paths so a successful test using a newly created account does not conceal access that persists after revocation.

GAT’s enterprise security-review guide provides the broader buyer context. Retrieval permission testing gives the customer concrete evidence about whose information the system can use for each person’s request.