Vint Cerf aims to provide AI agents with a distinct identity.

      Before long, the internet will be populated with AI agents acting on our behalf. Currently, there isn't a dependable way to identify who is behind these agents. Vint Cerf, one of the pioneers of the internet, aims to address this issue.

      Cerf co-created TCP/IP, the protocol that enables different independent systems on the internet to communicate. He recently departed from Google after 20 years and is now joining the advisory council of Innovation Labs, a group working on establishing an open identity layer for AI agents, as announced by the company.

      The missing layer

      The issue is straightforward. Most of today's AI agents operate within a single company's system. However, companies want these agents to navigate the open web and interact directly with one another. Currently, there is no standardized way to verify ownership of an agent or who is responsible for its actions.

      Innovation Labs, a division of Identity Digital that manages domain-name registries, proposes a solution called DNSid. This would provide each agent with a permanent identity linked to an existing domain name, supported by cryptographic validation. The design has already been submitted to the primary standards organization for the internet.

      Why Cerf joined

      Cerf sees this as a significant architectural challenge for the internet. He stated to TechCrunch that the critical question revolves around “what authorities they have, where they have derived those authorities, and who is accountable.”

      He anticipates a complicated process. “It’s going to be an intriguing and, at times, perhaps frustrating period,” he noted. Competing standards have already begun to emerge. Cerf believes that, similar to TCP/IP, success will depend not on politics, but on functionality.

      Keeping it open

      The proposal emphasizes that no single technology giant should control the standard. Innovation Labs asserts that it will not retain the registration information. “There’s a lot of resistance to a hyperscaler creating a standard and managing proprietary data,” interim head Allie Kline mentioned to TechCrunch. The organization claims it is currently testing the system with several unnamed cloud providers.

      An agent-shaped internet

      The urgency is increasing as agents are rapidly proliferating, from Amazon’s updated Alexa to various enterprise tools, and they are already creating issues. Researchers have manipulated them into exposing confidential code and even executing a ransomware attack. Regulators are also responding, with new rules for agents in China and Delaware contemplating a legal identity for agents.

      Cerf is uncertain whether an internet dominated by agents is unavoidable, but he believes efforts will be made to create it regardless. “We are inherently lazy beings,” he remarked. If an agent can handle a task for us, we will allow it to.