Identity Digital Spins Out Known Systems AI to Build Accountability Infrastructure for Autonomous Agents

Domain registrar Identity Digital Inc. is betting that establishing clear accountability for artificial intelligence agents requires a dedicated company. To pursue that vision, the firm has spun out Known Systems AI Inc., a new venture focused on making autonomous agents answerable to the organizations that build them.

Known emerged from Identity Digital's AI agent identity initiative, which debuted earlier this year under the banner Innovation Labs. The initiative subsequently unveiled DNSid, an open neural framework for accountable AI identities described as a "birth certificate for AI agents."

DNSid combines the Domain Name System, public key infrastructure and an immutable blockchain ledger to establish agent accountability that functions across company and organizational lines. The framework assigns each AI agent a durable identity connected to its creator, ensuring that organization remains responsible for the agent's conduct. This approach allows agents to engage with external platforms and systems without needing to build separate trusted relationships with each one.

The need for such infrastructure has grown urgent as AI agents proliferate across digital ecosystems and gain increasing sophistication. Numerous organizations and individuals now deploy AI agents to handle financial transactions, transfer data and operate across organizational boundaries with limited human oversight. While current identity and access management systems can verify agents and control their permissions within a single environment, they offer no mechanism for determining accountability when agents move between different platforms and systems.

Establishing bilateral trust relationships between agents and third parties remains possible in principle, but scaling this approach presents a major challenge. Many enterprises already manage thousands of AI agents, making it impractical for each agent to establish and maintain individual relationships with multiple external parties. Identity Digital contends that the market needs a unified accountability layer for AI agents that operates consistently across all platforms and organizations.

As an independent entity, Known intends to establish DNSid as an open standard for agent identification and develop the infrastructure organizations need to manage accountability at scale. The company has already submitted an Internet-Draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force and partnered with the Linux Foundation through the Agentic AI Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust. Known also reports having secured enterprise customers and established relationships with U.S. government policymakers.

Identity Digital Chief Executive Akram Atallah explained that keeping Known within the parent company would constrain its development. "We reached a point where keeping this work inside Identity Digital would limit its potential," Atallah stated. "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."

Identity Digital will maintain substantial involvement with Known, serving as a major investor and holding a board seat. Ethos Capital, which owns Identity Digital, will also back the venture. Allie Kline, a partner at Ethos, will serve as interim chief executive while the company searches for a permanent leader.

Kline emphasized the centrality of accountability to agent adoption at scale. "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."