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Layer 06 of 06

Identity

Who is the AI in this context?

The role, tone, authority, and boundaries that define each distinct AI agent deployment.

Why this layer matters

"The AI" is not a single entity. The agent that drafts a client email is a different actor from the agent that approves a refund. They need different authority, different tone, different escalation paths.

Identity is how you turn "an AI" into "this specific AI, configured for this specific job."

What good looks like

  • Named agent contexts with documented roles and responsibilities
  • Explicit authority boundaries (what can this agent decide vs escalate)
  • Tone and voice rules appropriate to the audience
  • Domain knowledge scoped to what this agent needs
  • Clear escalation paths out of the agent's authority

What a gap looks like

How it connects

Identity enforces which guardrails apply, which workflows are available, and which slice of domain knowledge is in scope. It is the lens through which every other layer is expressed for a given deployment.