Vint Cerf Joins Push to Build Open Identity Standard for AI Agents
Original: Vint Cerf is working on a plan to unleash AI agents on the open internet
Why This Matters
Establishing open identity standards for AI agents is critical infrastructure for safe, interoperable autonomous systems across the internet.
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, weeks after leaving Google, is now advising Innovation Labs, a subsidiary of DNS registry company Identity Digital. The organization is developing DNSid, an open standard to identify AI agents across the internet using domain-name infrastructure and cryptographic proofs.
Vint Cerf, one of the architects of the internet's foundational protocols, left Google after 20 years last week and has immediately taken on an advisory role at Innovation Labs, a subsidiary of Identity Digital, a DNS registry company. The organization is developing DNSid, a proposed registry that links AI agents to existing internet domain names and uses cryptographic proofs to log their registration over time.
Most AI agents currently operate within proprietary systems, but businesses are increasingly envisioning agents operating autonomously across the open internet, interacting directly with other agents. A lack of shared identification and auditing standards has been a key obstacle to this vision.
Cerf told TechCrunch: "This is largely triggered by the notion of AI agents and the question of what authorities they have, where they have derived those authorities, who is accountable for the behavior of an agent in this context, and where and how its identity is established."
Innovation Labs interim CEO Allie Kline said the company is trialing the standard with several unnamed hyperscalers and identity companies. She emphasized that the organization does not plan to conduct other AI business or retain ownership of registration data.
Cerf noted that broad adoption will depend on functionality and interoperability, drawing a parallel to how TCP/IP achieved widespread adoption through user-driven pressure.