[Openid-aiim] IAM needs for Agentic AI and Path Forward

[Ayesha Dissanayaka]

Hi All,

Thanks, everyone, for your comments on the thoughts on the doc. And I had a
great time discussing this during the CG meeting yesterday. Following up on
our discussion i
<https://github.com/openid/cg-ai-identity-management/wiki/20250717-%E2%80%90-Meeting-notes:-July-17,-2025#ayeshas-agent-identity-discussion-iam-need-for-agentic-ai---brainstorming>n
the last CG meeting, I am moving this conversation to email so that it's
easier to comment and gather thoughts from everyone.  Please refer to this
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PhWC4KRO00kOPUW113ldG06Vii5dZjW3ljiV1tA0GCc/edit?tab=t.0>
documen
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PhWC4KRO00kOPUW113ldG06Vii5dZjW3ljiV1tA0GCc/edit?tab=t.0>t
for detailed information.

The complexity of AI-native applications, when considering GenAI,  has
progressed in added stages of complexity :

   1.

   Task-Specific AI: Simple applications using LLMs for specific tasks like
   text generation.
   2.

   RAG-Enabled AI: Applications that can access and synthesize external
   knowledge bases.
   3.

   Apps that include Agents: Applications where agents can make decisions
   and execute tasks on a user's behalf.
   4.

   Agent Teammates: The current frontier, where agents act on their own
   accord and collaborate with humans in shared workflows.

This evolution presents exciting opportunities, but it also brings a new
set of challenges, particularly in how we manage identity and access. To
ensure we build a secure and trustworthy ecosystem for these agents, we
need to establish a robust set of IAM best practices.

Here are some of the key requirements that we should be thinking about:

   -

   Seamless Integration: Agents need to interact with existing systems,
   like those using OAuth, with minimal disruption.
   -

   Flexible Action: Agents should be able to act on their own or securely
   on behalf of a user or another entity.
   -

   Just-in-Time Permissions: To mitigate risks from the non-deterministic
   nature of agents, we need mechanisms for granting just-enough access,
   precisely when it's needed.
   -

   Clear Accountability: There must be a designated responsible party for
   an agent's actions.
   -

   Auditable Traceability: All agent actions should be traceable back to
   their identity and the delegating authority.
   -

   Agent-Specific Controls: Resource servers may need to identify and apply
   specific controls for actions initiated by agents.
   -

   Lifecycle Management: We need clear governance for the entire lifecycle
   of an agent, from onboarding to decommissioning.

This is a pivotal moment for us to lead the way in defining the standards
and best practices that will shape the future of agentic AI. To get the
ball rolling, let's consider a few key questions:

   1.

   Where can we apply existing standards and best practices?
   2.

   What are the novel problems that existing solutions can't address?
   3.

   Where do we need to extend current standards or innovate?
   4.

   How should an agent's identity be defined and structured?
   5.

   Develop a shared vocabulary for scenarios, actors, and challenges.
   -

      Happening at
      https://github.com/openid/cg-ai-identity-management/blob/main/deliverable/taxonomy.md
      as initiated at AIIM-CG

Please share your thoughts, any references, and any ideas you might have on
the above.

Looking forward to continuing the discussion.


On Wed, Jul 9, 2025 at 10:04 PM Ayesha Dissanayaka <ayshsandu at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks, Alex, for the comments.
>
> On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM Alex Babeanu <alex.babeanu at indykite.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Added some comments to the doc, thanks for sharing Ayesha. This could
>> serve as a starting point for discussion...
>> A side question, could we use a common share drive to such docs or
>> material ?
>>
> Sure, if the CG has such a shared space, I can move the doc there.
> Athul <atul at sgnl.ai>, do we have any such for the AIIM CG?
>
>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> ./\.
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM Ayesha Dissanayaka <ayshsandu at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> It's great to be part of this exciting community to discuss IAM for the
>>> Agentic Era.
>>>
>>> Bubbling up a discussion in the Slack channel, I'm sharing this analysis
>>> on emerging IAM challenges from Agentic AI
>>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PhWC4KRO00kOPUW113ldG06Vii5dZjW3ljiV1tA0GCc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.secnaj745bir>
>>> systems that now function as autonomous workforce members, and how we can
>>> approach addressing them.
>>>
>>> I'd love to hear working groups' thoughts on this, and collaborate to
>>> extend this work to commonly identify the IAM problems we need to be
>>> solving for agentic AI systems and how.
>>>
>>> I'm happy to discuss these findings at an upcoming meeting. Till then,
>>> let's collaborate on the mailing list and in the doc
>>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PhWC4KRO00kOPUW113ldG06Vii5dZjW3ljiV1tA0GCc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.secnaj745bir>
>>> itself.
>>>
>>> Cheers!
>>>
>>> - Ayesha
>>>
>>> --
>>> Openid-aiim mailing list
>>> Openid-aiim at lists.openid.net
>>> https://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-aiim
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Alex Babeanu
>> Lead Product Manager, AI Control  Suite
>>
>> t. +1 604 728 8130
>> e. alex.babeanu at indykite.com
>> w. www.indykite.com
>>
>
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