Identity Digital Launches Known Systems AI to Enhance Accountability for AI Agents
Identity Digital Inc., a prominent domain name registrar, has announced the formation of a new company, Known Systems AI Inc., aimed at improving accountability for artificial intelligence agents. This spinout is part of the organization’s broader initiative to establish secure identifiers for AI technologies, which was originally launched this year under the banner of Innovation Labs.
Earlier in 2026, the Innovation Labs initiative unveiled the DNSid framework, touted as a “birth certificate for AI agents.” This open neural framework is designed to provide accountable AI identities by leveraging the principles of the Domain Name System, public key infrastructure, and a secure blockchain ledger. The company asserts that DNSid facilitates interoperability in agent accountability across various organizational structures. By assigning a persistent identity to each AI agent linked to its creator company, it ensures that entities can be held responsible for their actions. Furthermore, DNSid allows agents to engage with third-party platforms seamlessly, eliminating the need to build trust relationships for every interaction.
This capability is becoming essential as AI agents rapidly proliferate across the internet, taking on increasingly sophisticated roles. Organizations and individuals are already deploying these agents to autonomously execute financial transactions, transfer data, and function across institutional boundaries with minimal human intervention. Despite existing identity and access management tools that can authenticate AI agents within designated environments, they fall short in establishing accountability for actions taken across varied platforms.
One of the significant challenges in scaling AI agent usage lies in the establishment of bilateral trust relationships between agents and organizations. With many firms managing thousands of AI agents, it is impractical for each agent to forge and sustain individual relationships across multiple platforms. Identity Digital recognizes the pressing need for a universal layer of accountability that transcends organizational limits, simplifying the governance of AI agents’ activities.
As Known Systems AI evolves into an independent entity, its mission will focus on promoting DNSid as an open standard for AI agent identification while developing tools crucial for scaling accountability. In pursuit of this goal, Known has submitted an Internet-Draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is collaborating with the Linux Foundation through initiatives like the Agentic AI Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust. The company has also secured several enterprise customers and is engaged with policymakers within the U.S. government to push its agenda forward.
Akram Atallah, CEO of Identity Digital, emphasized that the spinout was necessary to enhance Known’s potential beyond its previous framework within Identity Digital. He stated, “Agent accountability needs to work across companies, platforms, and ecosystems. Known now has the independence to engage with the market broadly and foster the participation essential for a functional shared infrastructure.”
Known will maintain a close relationship with Identity Digital, which will remain a significant investor and retain a director seat on the Known board. Ethos Capital, the primary owner of Identity Digital, will also provide support for the new company. Ethos partner Allie Kline will serve as interim CEO of Known while a search for a permanent leader is conducted.
In Kline’s view, establishing accountability is vital for the scalability of AI agents. She remarked, “As agents begin transacting and exchanging information across organizational boundaries, accountability requires a consistent framework for determining responsibility. This is crucial for building the trust necessary for wider adoption of AI technologies.”