When an AI agent does something on your behalf today, it usually has to become you. It logs in as you, with your access to everything. Estonia wants to end that.
The country plans to issue personal identification numbers to AI assistants, the first nation to do so, prime minister Kristen Michal said. The idea is to give an agent its own identity, so what it is allowed to do can be limited, supervised and traced.
“It cannot be the case that a person is forced to give their AI assistant access to all of their rights, services, and data,” Michal wrote on X. “Agents must have limited, controllable, and auditable authorizations.”
Why a country built on digital IDs needs a new one
Estonia is the natural place for this. Its 1.3 million residents already use digital IDs to marry, see a doctor and sign documents, and its e-Residency scheme hands the same digital identity to non-resident entrepreneurs abroad.
