[Openid-aiim] AI Agent is not suitably distinct and should be abandoned as a name

[Alex Babeanu]

A topic for the Taxonomy subgroup perhaps?

Cheers,

./\.

On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 3:49 PM Eve Maler via Openid-aiim <
openid-aiim at lists.openid.net> wrote:

> Hi Tom,
>
> I like the perspective taken in this proposal. There are already quite a
> few variants of both (e.g. enterprise-delegated “digital worker” vs.
> employee-delegated “managed agent” vs. third-party “unmanaged agent”, not
> to mention the persistent vs. transient dimension), and if the “PIA” (uh
> oh, "pain in the *"??) is hosted or multi-user, the two types get pretty
> thoroughly mixed in practice. How to handle those cases?
>
> Best,
> Eve
>
>
> [image: Logo (6) small.jpg]
>
> President & Founder, Venn Factory
> Digital Identity Strategist
> Author & Speaker
> Board Member
> Cell and Signal: +1 (425) 345-6756 <+14253456756>
> Sign up <https://masteringdigitalidentity.com/> to receive updates about
> Eve’s new book, Mastering Digital Identity
>
> On Feb 3, 2026, at 11:34 PM, Tom Jones via Openid-aiim <
> openid-aiim at lists.openid.net> wrote:
>
> “AI Agent” is currently overloaded, two fundamentally different species of
> systems so it should be Two Distinct Categories
>
> Here’s a clear vocabulary that separates the two without overlap:
>
> 1. Personal Intelligence Agent (PIA)
> Purpose: Acts as your digital counterpart = your cognitive extension.
>
> Characteristics:
> Represents you, not some enterprise
> Maintains long‑term personal context
> Speaks in your voice and understands your preferences
> Manages your tasks, information, life logistics, and personal workflows
> Protects your autonomy and privacy
> Interfaces with the world on your behalf
>
> Analogy:
> Your digital chief of staff + memory + reasoning engine + personal OS.
>
> 2. Enterprise Operational Agent (EOA)
> Purpose: A company-owned digital worker is pretty much the same sort of
> agent as an employee/contractor and operates with the same authority as an
> employee.
>
> Characteristics:
> Represents the organization, not an individual
> Operates under enterprise governance, compliance, and security
> Executes company processes (HR, finance, IT, operations, engineering, etc.)
> Has explicit role-based permissions and contributes to org workflows
> Can collaborate with humans as a peer
> Not personal, although it might act as your assistant it’s the
> enterprise’s asset
>
> Analogy:
> A digital employee with full enterprise responsibilities and policy
> constraints.
> The Community really needs to be able to distinguish.
> Right now, “AI Agent” is used to describe both, which leads to:
> Confusion about trust boundaries
> Ambiguity around ownership and accountability
> Misalignment in design, safety, and expectations
> Difficulty discussing architecture and policy
>
> By naming them separately, we get:
> Clear governance
> Clear user expectations
> Clear product categories
> Less conceptual collision
>
> My Proposed Naming (Simple & Precise)
> 1. Your personal digital counterpart - Personal Intelligence Agent
> (PIA)Explicitly personal, tied to an individual, human-centric
> 2. Enterprise digital worker - Enterprise Operational Agent (EOA)
> Organization-owned, role-based, operational responsibilities
>
> Other optional alternatives if those are a problem for you.
> Personal Cognitive Agent (PCA)
> Enterprise Role Agent (ERA)
> Enterprise Digital Colleague (EDC)
> Enterprise Autonomous Worker (EAW)
>
> But I like PIA vs EOA -  it's clean, neutral, and scalable.
> Peace ..tom jones
> --
> Openid-aiim mailing list
> Openid-aiim at lists.openid.net
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.openid.net_mailman_listinfo_openid-2Daiim&d=DwICAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=5sBoSfxIiqLtQortm8AmD_Id3ey-NnrSxMQ86O4reUc&m=41zHe6GCAA4ZdK3fqk690H2o1hxnhYHr39TIaA_pTZB8ujstcq9vomxoiSK-GKGd&s=SKnlKUSkHDUlzNuE_21buwLGzTmPEKHgvm0VZrw91RU&e=
>
>
> --
> 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
[image: mobilePhone] +1 604 728 8130
[image: emailAddress] <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/goog_101932960>
alex.babeanu at indykite.com
[image: website] www.indykite.com
[image: linkedin] <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ababeanu/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openid.net/pipermail/openid-aiim/attachments/20260204/bfe75342/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Logo (6) small.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22207 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openid.net/pipermail/openid-aiim/attachments/20260204/bfe75342/attachment-0001.jpg>