Estonia plans government IDs giving AI agents rights and responsibilities

What if AI agents had a government-issued ID letting others know what they are authorized to do? Credit: jijomathaidesigners / Shutterstock There’s no shortage of agentic AI tools out there that offer to perform online tasks on your behalf, if only you’ll give them all your passwords and credit card details. The trouble starts when those agents don’t know when to stop — or when others don’t know to stop them. In Estonia, the country’s AI Council has plans to change that, proposing to issue government-backed digital identities for AI agents that spell out what powers a person or company is willing to delegate to them. “In the future, AI will increasingly perform digital operations on behalf of a person, company, or institution,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal in a news release. “To do this, it must be clear who is acting, on whose behalf, with what rights, and who is responsible.” He supported the AI Council’s proposal to create a digital identity for AI agents that will define agents’ rights and enable them to act in a verifiable and auditable manner. The ID could, the council suggests, show whether an agent is only allowed to view data, create or edit documents, or make payments, and if so, up to what limit. First mover advantage There’s no telling when the plan will come to fruition — although Michal is keen for his country to take the lead. “If we act quickly and wisely, Estonia will become the first country in the world to create an official digital identity for AI agents,” he said. Estonia is already a leader in the use of digital identities for humans. Estonians can use their national digital ID cards for voting, signing documents, accessing medical and tax records. The country also offers foreigners the option of applying for “e-residency,” a digital identity enabling them to create a company in Estonia and digitally sign all related documents online as they interact with the country’s widely digitized administrative processes. Michal created the AI Council in January, calling on Estonian startups, investment funds, industry and research institutions to systematically implement AI across the country’s industry, education, healthcare, and energy sectors. AI vendors have already proposed creating digital identities for agents, but so far these are intended only to manage the activities of agents within the enterprise, or for interconnecting enterprise IT platforms, and none of them have the backing of governments. Estonia’s proposal could put the tiny Baltic country at the cutting edge of agentic AI usage and set an example for others. This article first appeared on Computerworld. Artificial Intelligence Government IT Government Markets Industry Identity Management Solutions Identity and Access Management Security