The domain name registrar company Identity Digital Inc. thinks it knows how to make artificial intelligence agents more accountable, and to do that it’s creating an entirely new company called Known Systems AI Inc.
Known is a spinout of Identity Digital’s nascent AI agent identity initiative, which launched earlier this year under the name of Innovation Labs. Shortly afterward, Innovation Labs released an open, neural framework for accountable AI identities called DNSid, which is described as a kind of “birth certificate for AI agents.”
DNSid is built on Domain Name System, public key infrastructure and an immutable blockchain ledger and makes agent accountability interoperable across organizational boundaries, the company said. With DNSid, AI agents are given a persistent identity that’s tied to the company that created them, which means that entity can always be held accountable for its actions. It enables agents to interact with third-party platforms and systems without establishing trusted relationships with each one.
That’s important, because AI agents are becoming pervasive across the web, and they’re getting more capable by the day. Many organizations and individuals are already using AI agents to autonomously initiate financial transactions, move information and act across organizational boundaries with minimal human involvement. But though existing identity and access management tools can authenticate these agents and govern what they’re allowed to do within a specific environment, they do not provide any way to establish who should be held accountable for its actions as it moves across different platforms and systems.
AI agents can establish bilateral trust relationships, but the problem is doing this at enterprise scale. Many businesses are already operating thousands of AI agents, and it’s just not feasible for each one to establish and maintain those relationships with multiple third parties. According to Identity Digital, what’s needed is a shared accountability layer for AI agents that works across every platform and organizations.
As an independent company, Known will attempt to advance DNSid as an open standard for agent identification and build the tools that organizations need to scale accountability. So far, it has taken various steps towards that goal, submitting an Internet-Draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force and working with the Linux Foundation via the Agentic AI Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust. It also claims a number of enterprise customers and relationships with policymakers in the U.S. government.
Identity Digital Chief Executive Akram Atallah said Known’s progress was being held back by its ties with its former parent company, hence the need to spin it out as an independent business. “We reached a point where keeping this work inside Identity Digital would limit its potential,” he explained. “Agent accountability needs to work across companies, platforms and ecosystems. Known now has the independence [it needs] to work across the market and build the broad participation required for shared infrastructure to succeed.”
The company will retain close ties with Known. It’s one of its biggest investors and it will retain a seat on its board of directors. Ethos Capital, which is the primary owner of Identity Digital, will also support Known. Ethos partner Allie Kline will take charge of Known for the time being as its interim CEO while leading the search for a permanent leader.
“AI agents will not scale without accountability,” Kline said. “As agents begin transacting, exchanging information and operating across organizational boundaries, accountability requires a consistent way to know who is responsible for them. That is essential to building the trust required for broader adoption.”
