As AI agents become the main engine behind automation and act on behalf of unidentified humans, Boston-based Proof has launched an open protocol intended to help websites and APIs verify the identity and authority behind AI agents performing those actions.
The protocol, called x401, enables services to request credentials confirming information such as identity, organizational affiliation, signing authority or other trusted claims before allowing an AI agent to complete an action. Proof said x401 is issuer-neutral and allows organizations to determine which identity providers and assurance levels they will accept.
The company said x401 was developed with contributors from the payments, identity and AI sectors and will be submitted to the FIDO Alliance’s agentic authentication standards workgroup. The protocol is intended to complement emerging standards for agentic payments and digital transactions by providing a standardized approach to authorization.
“AI is making actions and content effortless to generate. Trust will come from knowing who stands behind them,” said Pat Kinsel, founder and CEO of Proof. “x401 gives every service a common way to ask for proof. Proof Digital ID gives people and organizations a high-assurance way to answer—with a signed record of who authorized what.”
The company said developers can begin using the protocol immediately through documentation, sample applications and integrations with AI assistants including Claude and ChatGPT.