As AI assistants begin to shop and spend online, a fundamental question emerges: who is actually behind the transaction? World, the identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, introduced a solution this week called AgentKit. The developer toolkit allows AI agents to cryptographically prove they are acting on behalf of a verified, unique human.

The system integrates with a payment protocol from Coinbase and Cloudflare, enabling AI agents to make micropayments. This combination seeks to transform software agents from potential bots into recognized economic entities. Erik Reppel of Coinbase noted that while payments facilitate agent commerce, identity establishes who is responsible.

Industry projections suggest autonomous AI commerce could grow into a multi-trillion dollar market by 2030. With that scale comes risk—a single person could theoretically operate thousands of agents. AgentKit addresses this by using zero-knowledge proofs to link multiple agents to one verified human, allowing platforms to set per-person limits on usage like free trials or booking requests.

Currently, the verification relies on World's Orb biometric system, though the company plans to add support for NFC-enabled passports and IDs. The broader goal is to establish a foundational identity layer for an internet where AI agents act alongside people. With millions already verified, World is positioning its protocol as essential infrastructure for the next phase of the web.

Source: CoinDesk