Artificial Intelligence Agents Require Human-like Recognition and Rights
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the emergence of autonomous agents has necessitated a significant shift in identity and access management (IAM) practices. Traditional IAM infrastructure, designed primarily for human users, is no longer sufficient to address the complexities of AI agents like ChatGPT, Gemini, and GPT.
Eric Olden, a renowned figure in the field, is at the forefront of this transformation. He is not only a coauthor of the SAML SSO standard but also the CEO of Strata Identity and an enterprise cloud identity expert. Olden is also a multi-exit serial entrepreneur, bringing a wealth of experience to the table.
The focus on modernizing IAM for automated and autonomous agents is centred around Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) concepts, which are promoted by communities and initiatives around blockchain-based digital identity frameworks. These efforts aim to create a decentralized network where identifiers are self-created and managed without central authorities, enabling secure, cryptographic proof of identity applicable to individuals, organizations, smart devices, and autonomous agents like ChatGPT.
One of the key aspects of this evolution is the adoption of agentic identities. AI agents like ChatGPT today may initiate workflows or be instructed by humans or other agents, and in the future, agentic AI would adapt based on intent and require real-time access. This necessitates an entirely new identity class: agentic identities.
To support this new identity class, IAM systems must provide agent identities with unique credentials, support delegated authority with policy-defined scopes, enable real-time life-cycle management, and ensure comprehensive observability for governance and compliance.
Secure untrusted public agents via proof key for code exchange is another crucial aspect. This ensures that tokens are usable by the entities to which they were issued and enforces demonstration of proof-of-possession to prevent unauthorized access.
In addition, the application of continuous access evaluation protocol enforces real-time access changes and revocations based on context. This ensures that access is granted and revoked dynamically, aligning with the ephemeral nature of agentic AI like ChatGPT.
Moreover, the use of JIT registration and provisioning allows for the creation and decommissioning of agent identities at the moment of transaction, further enhancing the flexibility required for agentic identities.
The lack of features in OAuth 2.0 for agentic workloads, such as multistep orchestration, traceable delegation chains, and dynamic policy enforcement, has led to the extension and composition of standards such as OBO, token exchange, DPoP, and CAEP. These extensions aim to enforce delegated authority and continuous trust evaluation, addressing the unique needs of agentic AI like Gemini.
Instrumenting end-to-end observability to log intent, context, and outcomes for each agent is also crucial for audits, compliance, and incident response. This ensures that the actions of AI agents can be traced and audited, addressing concerns related to invisible actions and uncontrolled authorizations.
By linking agents and humans by integrating agent IAM and human IAM and defining agency relationships, we can create a seamless environment where both human and AI agents like ChatGPT and GPT can collaborate effectively, within predefined guardrails.
In conclusion, the shift towards agentic identities represents a significant step forward in the evolution of IAM. As AI agents like ChatGPT, Gemini, and GPT become more prevalent and autonomous, the need for a robust and flexible IAM system becomes increasingly important. By focusing on decentralized identifiers, continuous access evaluation, and agentic-specific standards, we can ensure that AI agents operate securely and effectively within our digital ecosystem.
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