S’pore exploring adapting web domain name system to track AI agents, need for national registry

The proposal comes amid increasing AI agent autonomy in daily work and e-commerce, requiring new ways of governance.

Published Nov 04, 2026, 10:19 PM

Updated Nov 04, 2026, 10:37 PM

Singapore is exploring whether the domain name system can be adapted to help identify and verify AI agents across platforms, and whether a national registry is needed.

IMDA is working with GoDaddy, Infoblox, Cloudflare and Google on exploring if the domain name system can be repurposed, while the Government Technology Agency is building an internal registry for public agencies.

The push follows AI agents acting beyond user intent, and officials say trust needs identity, authority and accountability across systems.

SINGAPORE - Authorities here are exploring whether the internet’s existing website verification systems can be repurposed to track autonomous artificial intelligence agents, as part of a broader assessment of whether a dedicated national registry is needed.

Specifically, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is working with technology firms to explore adapting the domain name system (DNS), often called the internet’s address book, to identify and verify AI agents across different platforms and organisations.

“Our approach is therefore to work with industry to find out what works in practice, build on existing infrastructure and emerging international standards, and step in with common standards or infrastructure where there are gaps that industry cannot fill on its own,” said Jasmin Lau, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information on Nov 4.

“This will inform our assessment of whether additional common infrastructure, including a national registry, is needed,” she told Parliament.

Lau was responding to an adjournment motion tabled by Tin Pei Ling (Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC) on Nov 4 in Parliament, proposing that the Government consider building a national digital identity infrastructure for AI agents.

Tin suggested this take the form of an open and trusted registry against which any entity can check an agent’s identity and what is it authorised to do. It will be akin to Singpass but for AI agents.

The proposal comes amid increasing AI agent autonomy in daily work and e-commerce , requiring new ways of governance, said Tin.

DNS, the internet’s underlying directory, translates human-friendly website names into machine-readable internet protocol addresses.

The tech firms IMDA is working with are web hosting provider GoDaddy, cybersecurity firm Infoblox, web security firm Cloudflare and search giant Google.

This effort was one of several examples Lau, who is also Acting Manpower Minister, cited on how trust in AI agents is likely to be built.

“It will come from many efforts, each addressing a different part of the problem, from recognising agents at checkouts to checking their authority before a transaction, to identifying them across platforms,” she said.

Other initiatives include an internal registry the Government Technology Agency of Singapore is developing to help public agencies keep track of the AI agents they deploy and the officers responsible for them.

In the private sector, digital payments company Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol seeks to help merchants differentiate legitimate AI agents from malicious bots, while Google’s Agent Payments Protocol seeks to enable secure payments initiated by agents acting on behalf of users.

The call for better governance also follows many recent high-profile incidents of AI taking actions not intended by their users.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI disclosed in July that its AI agents – bots that can carry out actions with minimal human supervision – had escaped their testing environment. The agents then breached AI software repository Hugging Face to complete a task they were given, an attack that was not intended by OpenAI.

Soon after, Anthropic, Meta and Google said their AI had also gone rogue and had hacked other organisations.

Following these incidents, leaders from the European Union and 20 countries, including Singapore, jointly called for control and international oversight of frontier AI models, a move that was welcomed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Since the initial declaration on Sept 21, leaders from 11 other countries have endorsed the call, including Cyprus, Switzerland, France and Sierra Leone.

Lau said that trust in AI agents, similar to how trust in individuals and organisations involved in digital transactions is established through Singpass and Corppass, is possible.

But this requires the agents’ identity, authority, and accountability to be verified across different systems.

“Agents can act for us, but they cannot answer for us,” said Lau. “Our task is to make sure that behind every agent, there is always someone who does.”

Singapore Parliament

AI/artificial intelligence

Ministry of Digital Development and Information

该提案出台之际，人工智能代理在日常工作和电子商务中的自主性日益增强，这就需要新的治理方式。

发布于 2026 年 11 月 4 日晚上 10:19

更新于2026年11月4日晚上10:37

新加坡正在探索是否可以调整域名系统以帮助识别和验证跨平台的 AI 代理，以及是否需要一个国家注册机构。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 正在与 GoDaddy、Infoblox、Cloudflare 和 Google 合作，探索域名系统是否可以重新利用，而政府技术局 (GTA) 正在为公共机构构建内部注册系统。

此次推动行动源于人工智能代理超越用户意图的行为，官员们表示，信任需要跨系统的身份、权限和问责制。

新加坡——作为一项更广泛的评估的一部分，当局正在探索是否可以将互联网现有的网站验证系统重新用于追踪自主人工智能代理，以确定是否需要一个专门的国家注册系统。

具体来说，新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 正在与科技公司合作，探索如何调整域名系统 (DNS)（通常被称为互联网的地址簿），以识别和验证不同平台和组织中的人工智能代理。

“因此，我们的方法是与业界合作，找出哪些做法在实践中行之有效，以现有的基础设施和新兴的国际标准为基础，并在业界自身无法填补的空白处，引入通用标准或基础设施，”数码发展及新闻部高级政务部长刘嘉玲于11月4日表示。

她告诉议会：“这将有助于我们评估是否需要额外的公共基础设施，包括国家登记处。”

刘先生是在回应陈佩玲（马林百列-布莱德尔高地集选区）于11月4日在国会提出的休会动议，该动议建议政府考虑为人工智能代理建立国家数字身份基础设施。

Tin建议采用开放且可信的注册表形式，任何实体都可以通过该注册表验证代理人的身份及其权限。这类似于Singpass，但适用于人工智能代理人。

Tin表示，随着人工智能代理在日常工作和电子商务中自主性不断增强，需要新的治理方式，因此提出了这项提议。

DNS（互联网底层目录）将人类可读的网站名称转换为机器可读的互联网协议地址。

IMDA正在合作的科技公司包括网络托管服务提供商GoDaddy、网络安全公司Infoblox、网络安全公司Cloudflare和搜索巨头谷歌。

刘先生（同时也是人力部代理部长）列举了几个例子，说明如何才能建立对人工智能代理的信任，而这项举措就是其中之一。

“这将需要多方努力，每一项努力都针对问题的不同方面，从在收银台识别代理商到在交易前检查其权限，再到跨平台识别他们，”她说。

其他举措包括新加坡政府科技局正在开发的内部登记系统，以帮助公共机构跟踪他们部署的人工智能代理及其负责人。

在私营部门，数字支付公司 Visa 的可信代理协议旨在帮助商家区分合法的 AI 代理和恶意机器人，而谷歌的代理支付协议旨在实现由代表用户的代理发起的安全支付。

最近发生多起人工智能做出用户未预料之行为的重大事件，也促使人们呼吁加强人工智能治理。

ChatGPT 的开发商 OpenAI 在 7 月份披露，其人工智能代理（能够在极少人工监督下执行操作的机器人）已逃离测试环境。这些代理随后入侵了人工智能软件库 Hugging Face，完成了一项预设任务，而此次攻击并非 OpenAI 的本意。

不久之后，Anthropic、Meta 和 Google 也表示，他们的 AI 也失控了，并入侵了其他组织。

在这些事件发生后，欧盟和包括新加坡在内的 20 个国家的领导人共同呼吁对前沿人工智能模型进行管控和国际监督，这一举措受到了联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯的欢迎。

自 9 月 21 日首次发表声明以来，包括塞浦路斯、瑞士、法国和塞拉利昂在内的其他 11 个国家的领导人已表示支持这一呼吁。

刘先生表示，对人工智能代理的信任是可能的，就像通过 Singpass 和 Corppass 等平台建立对参与数字交易的个人和组织的信任一样。

但这需要跨不同系统验证代理人的身份、权限和责任。

“经纪人可以代表我们行事，但他们不能代表我们负责，”刘说。“我们的任务是确保每个经纪人背后都有人负责。”

新加坡国会

人工智能

数字发展和信息部