Agent identity, explained for boards

An identity is not an authority.

Every AI agent needs an identity, so the organisation knows which agent is acting. But an identity says nothing about what the agent has been entrusted to do, within what limits, or who answers for it. That is the job of the persona: the agent's formal appointment.

The employee badge
Tells the security guard who you are
The letter of appointment
Sets out what the organisation has entrusted you to do, within what limits, and who you answer to

No bank would let someone approve a $1 million loan because they hold a staff badge. The same discipline has to apply to AI agents.

1. The story

From capable software to appointed agent

Eight short scenes. The agent, its identity and its appointment are shown separately, because they are separate things and they are governed by different people.

Day one

No appointment Nothing entrusted yet A capable new joiner Empty desk. No system access. No authority yet. AI model AI agent Can reason and talk to its model Agent identity ag-7f21 Issued by IT Valid for 15 minutes Says which agent is acting Not what it may do Appointed to Work arriving Customer enquiryBalance and product question Loan applicationPersonal loan, $60,000 Suspicious paymentFlagged by monitoring Same software. A separate approved appointment for each kind of work. 1 agent Each with its own identity. All under one appointment. One error in the appointment reaches every one of them. Appointed, certified and owned Unapproved agent Credentials work No appointment No owner Bank systems Still able to act DL Business owner Director of Lending Approve Review Revoke IT runs the agents. The business owns the appointment. Agent appointment Persona Credit Assessment Officer Purpose Assess credit applications Capabilities Analyse, recommend, escalate Scope Retail loans up to $100,000 Approval Head of Credit Accountability Director of Lending Assigned to: Retail credit team Certified 1 Oct 2026. Review due Apr 2027. CERTIFIED Identity Who is acting? The agent's own ID. Issued and run by IT. Can be short lived. Persona Under what approved authority? The appointment. Owned and certified by the business. Controls Is this action permitted? Checked every time, against the appointment. Identity establishes who. The persona defines authority. Controls govern each action.

2. The analogy

Boards already govern this. Just not for agents.

Every bank appoints people to roles, delegates authority with limits, names who is accountable, and reviews it all regularly. An AI agent needs exactly the same structure. The persona is the appointment, not a second ID card.

In a bank
For an AI agent
What it answers
The employee
The AI agent
What is capable of doing the work
The staff badge
The agent's identity
Which agent is acting
The letter of appointment
The persona
What it has been entrusted to do, and why
Delegated authority limits
Capabilities and scope
What it may do, and how far it may go
The line manager
The business owner
Who answers for it
Annual review
Certification
Whether the appointment is still appropriate
Transaction controls
Checks on every action
Whether this particular action is allowed
Where the analogy stops: copiesAn employee fills one role at a time. One persona can be used by a thousand agents at the same moment, so a poorly defined appointment is a thousand problems, not one.
Where the analogy stops: judgementAn agent decides for itself how to carry out a task, at machine speed and without the instincts or personal accountability of a person. The limits have to be written down and checked, not assumed.
3. Three questions, every time

An approved persona does not make every action legitimate

Pick something the credit agent attempts. Each action has to clear three separate checks: who is acting, under what authority, and whether this specific action falls within it.

  • The agent attempts to
Identity
Who is acting?
CHECKING
Persona
Under what authority?
CHECKING
Controls
Is this action permitted?
CHECKING
ALLOWED

Illustrative scenario. Names, limits and identifiers are examples.

4. Who owns what

IT runs the agents. The business owns the authority.

The technology and the appointment are governed by different people. Agents can be generic and short lived. Appointments are durable business decisions, and they belong with the people accountable for the outcome.

IT runs the agents

The software and its identity
  • Sets up and operates the agents
  • Issues each agent its own identity
  • Keeps the platform secure and available
  • Connects agents to the systems they may use

The business owns the appointments

The persona and everything it authorises
  • Defines the purpose, capabilities and scope
  • Names an owner who answers for it
  • Certifies it before it is used, and reviews it on a schedule
  • Decides which people may assign work to it
  • Approves every change, and revokes it when it is no longer needed
1
DefinePurpose, capabilities and scope written down
2
CertifyApproved by the business before first use
3
AssignNamed people may give it work
4
ReviewChecked on a schedule, like any delegation
5
ChangeAny change is approved again before it takes effect
6
RevokeWithdrawn everywhere when no longer needed, or when the owner leaves
5. For the board

Questions for your business leaders

Every employee has an identity, an appointed role and defined authority. AI agents need the same discipline.

  1. Do your business teams have a structured way to create and manage the personas that carry out specific activities, or is it being left to IT?
  2. How often is each persona reviewed, and by whom in the business?
  3. How do you check that each persona is doing its job well, and not doing the wrong thing?
  4. What happens to a persona when the person who owns it leaves or changes role?
  5. If an agent made a bad decision tomorrow, who in the business would answer for it?