Internet pioneer Vint Cerf is developing a standard for digital identity in AI agents

After 20 years at Google, Vint Cerf, co-creator of TCP/IP and author of the protocols that power the Internet, is consulting for Innovation Labs. The objective is to develop an open standard for validating AI agent identities called DNSid.

DNSid aims to bind each AI agent to a domain name via cryptographic evidence of ownership history. This will enable us to identify owners, privileges, and accountability for any given agent.

Innovation Labs is a division of Identity Digital, one of the world’s largest domain registrars. They are currently piloting the standard with multiple vendors without centralized authority. That means Innovation Labs won’t have access to the registry of AI agent owners.

Currently, AI agents live in walled gardens where nobody is accountable for anything. With DNSid, we can leverage the Domain Name System (DNS), the glue that holds the Internet together, to provide transparency and accountability. If successful, DNSid will allow autonomous AI to run on the open web with complete traceability and responsibility.