What is an Agentic Identity?

Agentic identity is a digitally ephemeral identity assigned to an AI agent — a software-based system that performs tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously, often acting on behalf of a user, application, or system.

What do Gartner analysts say about Agentic Identities? 

Gartner defines Agentic Identities as unique, verifiable, and governable identities for AI agents that can perceive, reason, and act. According to Gartner, Agentic Identities must be managed with the rigor of human employees plus machine-identity controls (governance, least privilege, JIT, auditing, guardrails). These identities form the foundation for secure, auditable, and policy-enforced interaction between AI systems and enterprise infrastructure.

What Is Agentic Identity’s Strategic Position on the Gartner Tech Radar?

Gartner’s Tech Impact Radar: Global Attack Surface Grid is aimed at business and product leaders who need strategic guidance to navigate the global attack surface grid and prioritize investments.

• Range: 1–3 Years to Early-Majority Adoption
  Gartner positions Agentic Identities on a near-term horizon, reflecting how quickly AI agents are entering production workflows and prompting a rethink of IAM architectures.
• Mass: Very High
  The category is assessed as very high mass, signaling broad, cross-industry impact. Analysts note that securing autonomous agents requires a fundamental rethinking of enterprise security and identity as the control plane for agent autonomy.

Figure 1: Emerging Tech Impact Radar: Global Attack Surface Grid

Gartner, Emerging Tech Impact Radar: Global Attack Surface Grid, Luis Castillo, Tom Powledge, Esha Bhatia, Charanpal Bhogal, Isy Bangurah, Walker Black, Alfredo Ramirez IV, David Senf, Elizabeth Kim, 17 September 2025. © Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The category underscores the need to treat AI agents as first-class users—with verifiable identities, least-privilege/JIT access, full lifecycle governance, and comprehensive guardrails—as organizations deploy copilot-style and autonomous task agents across business workflows.

Why does securing agentic Identities matter now?

• Enterprise uptake: Gartner predicts that at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024. Additionally, 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% in 2024.
• Risk & governance gap: Gartner and industry analysts warn of agent-washing and failed projects without clear value and controls—amplifying the need for rigorous agentic identity programs.
• Identity is the control plane: Gartenr states that in order to safely scale agents, enterprises need identity-first security patterns adapted to dynamic, delegated, ephemeral principals (agents). Guidance from standards bodies and industry consortia (e.g., CSA) reinforces this shift. 

Failure to recognize and manage agentic identities can lead to:

• Credential sprawl — agents using human or shared tokens across systems
• Privilege overreach — access not scoped to task duration or intent
• Compliance failures — lack of clear attribution for decisions made by AI agents
• Audit gaps — no way to reconstruct who (or what) did what, when, and why
  

By adopting a formal agentic identity model, organizations can bring structure, traceability, and enforcement to a rapidly expanding operational layer.

What Role Do AI Agents Play in Identity Architecture?

A recent Astrix research collaboration highlighted how AI agents increasingly rely on NHIs to function, often invisibly and without proper governance. AI systems are not uniform; they operate across environments with varying access models and identity types.

Types of AI Agents and Their Identity Patterns

1. Chatbot AI: Interactive systems that converse with users and integrate with tools through OAuth apps, API keys, and webhooks.
   NHIs used: OAuth applications, API keys, webhooks
2. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
   Combines document retrieval with LLMs; uses credentials to access external sources.
   NHIs used: API keys, database service accounts
3. AI Cloud Models (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI): Managed LLM services using IAM roles or managed identities to access cloud resources.
   NHIs used: IAM roles, API keys
4. API-to-LLM Connections: Provides API access to LLMs deployed on SaaS or hybrid environments.
   NHIs used: API keys
5. Enterprise AI Platforms: Internal-facing AI systems accessed through SSO or login credentials, often integrated with other enterprise tools.
   NHIs used: OAuth tokens, API keys
6. Browser Agents: Operate within web browsers and often authenticate using session cookies or user-provided credentials.
   NHIs used: Session tokens, user service accounts
7. Computer Agents: Perform actions at the system level, using local credentials and broader access privileges.
   NHIs used: Local service accounts, domain credentials, session tokens
   

These categories illustrate how AI agents, even when operating without explicit identities, often inherit or are assigned NHIs to gain access — which becomes the implicit “agentic identity” in environments where formal governance is lacking.

Why Agentic Identity Matters Now

Agentic identities are no longer theoretical — they are active within every modern enterprise that employs AI automation. From customer-facing bots to infrastructure-level cloud agents, these actors are taking actions that demand governance and visibility.

Formalizing agentic identity allows organizations to:

• Secure AI workflows with least-privilege enforcement
• Ensure delegation accountability for every autonomous action
• Establish compliance-ready telemetry in regulated environments
  

To learn more about how AI agents intersect with NHIs and why securing their identities is critical, refer to the full Astrix research article on AI and Non-Human Identity touchpoints.