# AI Agent Identity

> **TL;DR.** AI Agent Identity is the emerging set of protocols and file formats that let an autonomous agent prove who it is, what it's authorized to do on whose behalf, and what values it embodies.

- **Category:** AI / Protocols / Security
- **Stage:** established
- **Age:** 312 days
- **Origin date:** 2025-07-26
- **First detected:** 2026-04-18
- **Canonical URL:** https://earlyterms.com/term/ai-agent-identity
- **Sources:** 7 primary URLs

## Definition

AI Agent Identity is the emerging set of protocols and file formats that let an autonomous agent prove who it is, what it's authorized to do on whose behalf, and what values it embodies. Two layers: cryptographic delegation (AAIP, AIP, Google's AP2) for authorization, and declarative persona files (SOUL.md) for behavioral identity.

The category crystallized between July 2025 and April 2026. [AAIP](https://github.com/krisdiallo/aaip-spec) shipped v1.0 on July 26, 2025; Google announced [AP2](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol) with 60+ partners including Mastercard, PayPal, and Coinbase on September 17, 2025; [SOUL.md](https://github.com/aaronjmars/soul.md) hit 368 GitHub stars; Sunil Prakash's [AIP paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24775) landed at IETF in March 2026 with an Invocation-Bound Capability Token design.

## Example

A delegation flow: a user signs a SOUL.md-backed AAIP delegation granting their shopping agent permission to spend up to $500 at a specific merchant within 24 hours. The merchant validates the signed cart mandate via AP2, the agent runs with persistent personality from SOUL.md — and when the transaction settles, there is a non-repudiable audit trail from intent to cart to payment.

## Analogy

If OAuth is how apps prove a user said yes, agent identity is how a machine proves a user said yes — and what the machine is allowed to do.

## Why it's emerging now

Google announced AP2 with 60+ partners (Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase, Intuit) on Sept 17, 2025. Sunil Prakash's AIP paper at IETF (March 25, 2026) documented that all of ~2,000 scanned MCP servers lacked authentication. SOUL.md hit 368 stars. The enterprise IAM vendors noticed: 'ai agent identity management' is now a top autocomplete tail with Microsoft's name in it.

## Related terms

- *child:* AAIP
- *child:* AIP
- *child:* AP2
- *child:* SOUL.md
- *child:* SoulSpec
- *related:* Agent Commerce Kit
- *related:* Model Context Protocol
- *related:* agents-md
- *related:* managed-agents
- *parent:* OAuth
- *parent:* OpenID Connect
- *related:* agent-to-agent protocol

## Sources

1. [AAIP spec repository (Kris Diallo)](https://github.com/krisdiallo/aaip-spec)
2. [Google Cloud Blog — Announcing AP2](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol)
3. [arXiv — AIP: Agent Identity Protocol for Verifiable Delegation](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24775)
4. [SOUL.md repository (Aaron J. Mars)](https://github.com/aaronjmars/soul.md)
5. [SoulSpec — the open standard](https://soulspec.org/)
6. [Hacker News — AAIP Show HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44895060)
7. [GetStream — Top AI Agent Protocols in 2026](https://getstream.io/blog/ai-agent-protocols/)

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_Generated by EarlyTerms · https://earlyterms.com/term/ai-agent-identity_