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

Wed Feb 4 18:54:08 UTC 2026

Any thoughts on AI agents in the government context?
Thinking out loud, there'll be AI agents working for the government as well
as agents working for citizens. Where would they fit in?

On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM Lombardo, Jeff via Openid-aiim <
openid-aiim at lists.openid.net> wrote:

> Indeed!
>
> Glad we meet tomorrow.
>
>
>
> *Jean-François “Jeff” Lombardo* | Amazon Web Services
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> Architecte Principal de Solutions, Spécialiste de Sécurité
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> *From:* Openid-aiim <openid-aiim-bounces at lists.openid.net> *On Behalf Of *Alex
> Babeanu via Openid-aiim
> *Sent:* February 4, 2026 10:06 AM
> *To:* Eve Maler <eve at vennfactory.com>
> *Cc:* peace at acm.org; openid-aiim at lists.openid.net
> *Subject:* RE: [EXT] [Openid-aiim] AI Agent is not suitably distinct and
> should be abandoned as a name
>
>
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> A topic for the Taxonomy subgroup perhaps?
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> Cheers,
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> ./\.
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> 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
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> 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
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