Create national registry for AI agents, says Tin Pei Ling

Caption language: en · Fetched: 2026-11-05

I'd like to propose that we consider building a national digital identity infrastructure for AI agents. An open and trusted registry akin to Singpass but for agents. A registry against which any entity can check an agent's identity and hopefully its mandate as well. It could rest on a few principles. Firstly, bound to humans, human or humans. An agent's identity is bound to the verified identity of the individual team or organization accountable for it. Singpass and CPASS already provide such anchors. Second, open to check. Not just large institutions but any business, any agency and any individual can verify an agent against the registry in real time and the revoked agent can be shut out everywhere at once. Third, clear or mandate.

What the agent is permitted to do is recorded and any material change requires a fresh documented authorization. A registry at the national level is necessary but not sufficient. The digital world has no borders. An agent registered in Singapore can cross borders within a fraction of a second and an agent registered elsewhere can just as quickly arrive at our doorstep. As an analogy, a biometric passport is accepted at borders around the world, even as each country independently assesses and issues the passport to its citizens. This is possible not because every country trusts every other country's government blindly, but because countries agreed on common technical standards for how a passport is built and verified. We should work towards the same for AI agents.

These safeguards are particularly important as agents become more autonomous and carry out increasingly consequential tasks, including financial transactions or accessing sensitive information. Governments around the world are also developing approaches to these issues. Although there is no single internationally established model, earlier this year, China issued national guidance on agent interactions, including identification and registration. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology has launched an initiative to advance AI agent standards. Miss Tin has proposed a national digital identity infrastructure for AI agents, including a registry that will allow different parties to verify an agent's identity and mandate. We agree with the objectives underpinning her proposal.

Beyond establishing trusted identities and clear mandates, we should aim to create an environment where AI agents can interact seamlessly and securely across different organizations and platforms. This calls for common standards and interoperable approaches so that an Asian recognized by one system can be verified by