THINKING ALOUD

AI agents, we’re going to need to see some ID

If the world is going to end, we should at least know whom to blame

Summarise
    • In recent weeks, OpenAI and Anthropic have issued portentous warnings about the dangers their own products pose to civilisation, making vague noises about collectively slowing down development.
    • In recent weeks, OpenAI and Anthropic have issued portentous warnings about the dangers their own products pose to civilisation, making vague noises about collectively slowing down development. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Joyce Hooi
    Published Wed, Sep 16, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    FOR too long, we humans have had to reassure random bots on the Internet that we are not, ourselves, random bots on the Internet.

    But the tables might soon turn on this indignity, now that there is a growing case for treating autonomous artificial intelligence agents as distinct digital entities.

    The US National Institute of Standards and Technology, for example, is noodling over a framework that will give AI agents their own cryptographically verifiable digital passports.