Know Your Agent (KYA)

Know Your Agent (KYA) is the verification of whether an AI agent was authorized for a specific action – with evidence third parties can recompute independently.

KYA answers four questions: who the agent is, on whose behalf it acts, what it was allowed to do and whether this exact action was permitted at that moment. The term borrows from Know Your Customer but verifies not a person but the authority of software acting on someone's behalf.

Unlike a one-time identification, KYA takes place on every action.

Example

A merchant receives an order of CHF 80 from an agent. With KYA, it verifies mandate, decision and receipt: the agent belongs to the customer, the amount is below her limit, the receipt matches the order. The certificate shows the result with a level and reasons.

How it differs

Know Your Customer verifies who a person is, Know Your Business who is behind a company. Know Your Agent also asks whether an agent was authorized for a specific action. Many vendors understand KYA as checking the agent's identity; KYA verifies authority with evidence.

In practice

• First clarify which agent actions have consequences for you, such as payments, orders or submissions, and place a verifier exactly there, before you accept the action.
• Decide which level you require at minimum: integrity may suffice for information, a payment should have authority and revocation proven, and disputes also need the point in time.
• Keep the certificate together with the transaction. Its reportDigest lets third parties recompute the same result years later.