Vint Cerf Advises Innovation Labs on DNS Registry Linking AI Agents to Domain Names

Vint Cerf left Google after 20 years last week and began advising Innovation Labs on November 4, 2026. Innovation Labs, a subsidiary of Identity Digital, is a DNS registry company developing DNSid, a proposed registry that links each AI agent to an existing internet domain name and uses cryptographic proofs to log its registration over time.

TechCrunch reported that Innovation Labs is trialing the DNSid standards with several unnamed hyperscalers and identity companies.

Cerf said he joined because naming and identification are becoming increasingly important amid the rise of AI agents. Cerf described the core questions as determining what authorities agents have, where those authorities derive from, who is accountable for their behavior, how their identity is established, and why it can be trusted.

He noted that multiple solutions are under consideration and that wide adoption will depend on functionality, as occurred with TCP/IP.

Allie Kline, interim CEO of Innovation Labs, said the proposal avoids broader AI business plans or ownership of registration data. She cited resistance to any hyperscaler releasing a standard while retaining proprietary data. Cerf said he does not view an agentic economy as inevitable but expects people to adopt agents because they make tasks easier.

He added that the period ahead will be both fascinating and exasperating due to the power of the new functionality.