--- title: AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model description: AI agents don't fit neatly into existing identity models — treating them as user proxies via OAuth delegation or as service accounts both create serious... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model | daily.dev og:description: AI agents don't fit neatly into existing identity models — treating them as user proxies via OAuth delegation or as service accounts both create serious... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/0gMsbkuOp.png og:image:alt: AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model **[Auth0](https://daily.dev/sources/auth0)** · 14 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AI agents don't fit neatly into existing identity models — treating them as user proxies via OAuth delegation or as service accounts both create serious security gaps. The PocketOS incident, where a Cursor agent deleted an entire production database in seconds, illustrates what happens when non-deterministic agents inherit standing credentials designed for humans or fixed automation. A first-class agent identity model requires distinct directory identifiers, capability-scoped permissions, delegation context, and dedicated audit trails. Lifecycle management should use short-lived just-in-time tokens (via OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange) rather than long-lived credentials. Authorization must be policy-driven and evaluated at runtime using ABAC or ReBAC (e.g., OpenFGA) rather than static role assignments. Observability requires explicit delegation chains, logged policy decisions, and non-repudiation tied to original user intent via Rich Authorization Requests and CIBA. Auth0's Token Vault and Fine-Grained Authorization are presented as concrete implementations of these patterns. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI Agent Identity: How to Authenticate and Govern AI Agents](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agent-identity-how-to-authenticate-and-govern-ai-agents-pii52p4wl) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Human vs. AI Identity: Why AI Agents Are Breaking Identity](https://daily.dev/posts/human-vs-ai-identity-why-ai-agents-are-breaking-identity-rnzw8xk2f) · Security Boulevard · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why AI Agents Need Their Own Permission Model](https://daily.dev/posts/why-ai-agents-need-their-own-permission-model-lclnk1x7x) · Auth0 · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#authorization](https://daily.dev/tags/authorization), [#oauth](https://daily.dev/tags/oauth) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop"},"datePublished":"2026-06-17T15:19:51.051Z","dateModified":"2026-06-17T15:34:14.924Z","description":"AI agents don't fit neatly into existing identity models — treating them as user proxies via OAuth delegation or as service accounts both create serious...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b21d78733d4cedf6e937b3ae46a6d779?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b21d78733d4cedf6e937b3ae46a6d779?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Auth0","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Auth0","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6510ffa7350449618fbacdddae663b82","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/auth0"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-agents-are-not-users-building-an-ai-agent-identity-model-0gmsbkuop","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,authorization,oauth","timeRequired":"PT14M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Auth0","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/auth0"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI Agents Are Not Users: Building an AI Agent Identity Model"}]} ```