AI Agent Certificates: 16% of Companies Issue Them – HID

A new study by identity security company HID indicates that approximately 35 percent of organizations consider AI agent certificates among the top three emerging trends in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The study, entitled “Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in the Age of AI and Automation,” highlights that 16 percent of enterprises are already issuing digital certificates for AI agents.

These certificates provide AI agents with verifiable digital identities, which is crucial for securing communication and ensuring data integrity as AI agents become more integrated into enterprise workflows. The adoption rate for AI agent certificates is slightly higher in the U.S. at 18 percent, compared to 13 percent in Europe, with large organizations leading this trend. The research is based on a survey of 300 IT leaders in the U.S. and Europe and explores the evolving challenges in PKI related to AI, automation, and post-quantum computing. HID emphasizes the critical importance of trust in the age of AI, especially for customer interactions and bot-to-bot exchanges.

PKI is defined as a comprehensive security framework that manages digital certificates and public-private key pairs. The study positions AI agents as a new identity category, similar to the Internet of Things (IoT), where PKI is used to secure device communications. While standards for AI agents are still developing, the PKI community is actively refining frameworks, with the Agent Name Service (ANS) being a promising proposed IETF standard.

HID offers PKI-as-a-service (PKIaaS) to streamline certificate management. Other companies, including Ping Identity, Saviynt, Dock Labs, IBM, Auth0, and Yubico, are also advancing their AI agent offerings, with some forming partnerships to verify human approval for high-risk AI actions.