# What is a trajectory in AI? > What is a trajectory in AI? The record of steps an agent took on a task, per Fortune. Why micro1 and Fortune say labs want paths like it from real company data. By Matt Burns, Vaultfish. Canonical: https://vaultfish.com/answers/what-is-a-trajectory-in-ai Published: 2026-09-14 Updated: 2026-10-13 ## The short answer A trajectory in AI is the record of steps an agent took while working on a task. A report shows the answer. A trajectory shows the work, with mistakes and recoveries. Company records create them too: a request, decision and approval across tools. The links must survive intact. This entry follows [Fortune's](https://fortune.com/2026/09/14/micro1-tries-to-beat-googles-bid-to-buy-bankrupt-spirit-airlines-data-for-12-5-million-highlighting-value-of-data-to-ai-companies/) usage, the one dated source I found that defines the word inside a company data sale. AI21's [glossary](https://www.ai21.com/glossary/ai-agent/what-is-an-agentic-trajectory/) gives the general definition: the complete sequence of actions, observations and decisions an agent produces while working through a task. ## How is a trajectory different from a finished document? A finished report shows the answer. A trajectory shows the work that led to it, including any mistakes and recoveries. Fortune's example from the Spirit Airlines archive is an IT ticket linked to a Teams discussion, a code change and an operational result. The article says such records could help test whether an agent reaches the right outcome. ## Where do trajectories come from? Two places. An agent produces one each time it attempts a task in an environment. Our entry on [RL environments](/answers/what-is-an-rl-environment) explains how that works. The second kind sits in a company's own tools, left behind by people at work. [micro1](/buyers/micro1)'s CFO gave a marketing budget request as the example, where the value sits in the path through spreadsheets, email and approvals rather than in names. A ticket, its thread and the change that closed it show a person's path, as long as the links between them survive. ## Which part of a micro1 deal involves them? The workflows track. An employee gives a general-purpose agent a real task and grades the result, and micro1 receives the grade plus the trajectory. The [workflows track page](/answers/micro1-workflows-track) has the details. micro1's CFO said in an undated recorded forum talk that workflows pay $700 to $800 per completed task (self-reported). The captions leave the low end unconfirmed. ## Why do the links between records matter? A trail only reads as a trajectory when the request, the discussion and the result stay connected. Keeping those joins is also why privacy review matters. See [referential integrity](/answers/what-is-referential-integrity-in-data). ## What should a company ask before it licenses them? Ask which of your systems hold a connected trail, and who is named inside each one. The [rights check](/rights-check) lists the questions, and the free [fit check](/business) scores how your records fit. No outcome is promised. We give no legal advice. Talk to a privacy or commercial lawyer in your state before you sign. micro1 may pay us a referral fee if a company we introduce goes ahead with it. [How we are paid](https://vaultfish.com/disclosure) Figure: steps Choose an action, use a tool -> Read the result -> Recover from a mistake. Fortune says an agent's trajectory records steps such as choosing actions, using tools and recovering from mistakes. [Apply to micro1's data partnership (paid link)](https://req.micro1.ai/post/74520e8b-4673-4da5-b855-53609aaf6710?referralCode=f82e519e-5d64-4e0e-9574-760c84371cf2&utm_source=referral&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=data_referral) ยท [micro1's own data-partnerships page](https://www.micro1.ai/data-partnerships) _Paid link. [How we are paid](https://vaultfish.com/disclosure)_ _Vaultfish helps you run the process. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. If you need counsel who knows this area, we can point you to one._ ## Sources - [Fortune's](https://fortune.com/2026/09/14/micro1-tries-to-beat-googles-bid-to-buy-bankrupt-spirit-airlines-data-for-12-5-million-highlighting-value-of-data-to-ai-companies/) - [glossary](https://www.ai21.com/glossary/ai-agent/what-is-an-agentic-trajectory/)