[Openid-aiim] IAM needs for Agentic AI and Path Forward
Ayesha Dissanayaka
ayshsandu at gmail.com
Sat Jul 19 17:19:35 UTC 2025
Hi Tom,
Thank you for your input. Of course, defining an agent is a top priority
when considering IAM. It's the very first term in the taxonomy document
<https://github.com/openid/cg-ai-identity-management/blob/main/deliverable/taxonomy.md>
that
the CG is constructing. 😃
Major AI framework providers have their definitions for AI agents, as I
tried to summarize here.
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PhWC4KRO00kOPUW113ldG06Vii5dZjW3ljiV1tA0GCc/edit?tab=t.1iyru8xdjt9u>.
We can draw some inspiration from them when constructing a definition for
the AI agents in the context of IAM for Agents.
On your suggestion for the agent definition, the term "consistent behavior"
might not go well with an agent, as agents are, by design, undeterministic
and dynamic. If you ask an agent to do the same thing twice, there is a
fair chance that it will do the task differently, unlike a traditional
application or a workload.
On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 12:19 AM Tom Jones <thomasclinganjones at gmail.com>
wrote:
> you talk about giving ai agents and id, but there appears to be no
> definition of what an agent must be to deserve an ID.
> Let's do that - how about this.
>
> An agent is a persistent collection of software and language models
> together in a workload with a consistent behavior (identity) for the
> duration of the validity of an assigned Identifier.
> An agent can be delegated authority by Entities, that is by named objects.
>
> Peace ..tom jones
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 18, 2025 at 10:49 AM Ayesha Dissanayaka via Openid-aiim <
> openid-aiim at lists.openid.net> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>>
>>> --
>> Openid-aiim mailing list
>> Openid-aiim at lists.openid.net
>> https://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-aiim
>>
>
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