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

Wed Feb 4 19:22:24 UTC 2026

several of use are looking at smart cities.
The issue is that there are (in the US) thousands of jurisdictions.
you need to be eligible to participate in a government activity IN THE
CORRECT JURISDICTION
I have not seen any group trying to grok that - perhaps we need one?

Peace ..tom jones

On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 10:54 AM Ayesha Dissanayaka <ayshsandu at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>>
>>
>> Architecte Principal de Solutions, Spécialiste de Sécurité
>> Principal Solution Architect, Security Specialist
>> Montréal, Canada
>>
>> *Commentaires à propos de notre échange? **Exprimez-vous **ici*
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/feedback.aws.amazon.com/?ea=jeffsec&fn=Jean*20Francois&ln=Lombardo__;JQ!!Pe07N362zA!0k9CkAV8Djpw_8EfIAKrbhP3TQrJr0oMnznlUgBJ3V3NoEk6hihx7dNHnQuejn6SSH2CP8Iow3G-tTzppHeg$>
>> *.*
>>
>>
>>
>> *Thoughts on our interaction? Provide feedback **here*
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/feedback.aws.amazon.com/?ea=jeffsec&fn=Jean*20Francois&ln=Lombardo__;JQ!!Pe07N362zA!0k9CkAV8Djpw_8EfIAKrbhP3TQrJr0oMnznlUgBJ3V3NoEk6hihx7dNHnQuejn6SSH2CP8Iow3G-tTzppHeg$>
>> *.*
>>
>>
>>
>> *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
>>
>>
>>
>> *CAUTION*: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do
>> not click links or open attachments unless you can confirm the sender and
>> know the content is safe.
>>
>>
>>
>> *AVERTISSEMENT*: Ce courrier électronique provient d’un expéditeur
>> externe. Ne cliquez sur aucun lien et n’ouvrez aucune pièce jointe si vous
>> ne pouvez pas confirmer l’identité de l’expéditeur et si vous n’êtes pas
>> certain que le contenu ne présente aucun risque.
>>
>>
>>
>> *CAUTION*: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do
>> not click links or open attachments unless you can confirm the sender and
>> know the content is safe.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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/>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Openid-aiim mailing list
>> Openid-aiim at lists.openid.net
>> https://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-aiim
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openid.net/pipermail/openid-aiim/attachments/20260204/3d24ff0a/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22207 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openid.net/pipermail/openid-aiim/attachments/20260204/3d24ff0a/attachment-0001.jpg>