Building trust into the next generation of digital services

By Bilel Jamoussi (ITU) and Goran Vranic (World Bank Group), with inputs from ITU and World Bank Group teams

Imagine an entrepreneur in a developing country asking an AI agent to help start a new business.

The agent registers the business online, applies for a trading permit, checks whether the business qualifies for a startup support programme, and arranges asset-based financing.

Whether it’s a business registry, a licensing authority, a support programme administrator, or a lender, they need to know one thing first – is this agent genuinely authorized by the applicant?

As governments accelerate digital transformation, this principle must extend from people to organizations and the autonomous AI agents increasingly acting on their behalf. In public administration, they could help people and businesses obtain credentials, benefits, permits, or licenses through one interface. 

But before an agent acts, the government authority interacting with the agent must establish who controls it, whose interests it represents, what it may do, and whether it can be trusted, along with relevant privacy and cybersecurity measures.

The group is open to all interested experts from governments, standards bodies, industry, academia and international organizations, and participation does not require ITU membership; addressing governments’ requirements is high on the agenda. It is part of the work of ITU-T Study Group 17, the ITU standardization group responsible for security and identity management at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The World Bank Group, as an observer in ITU’s TIDA Focus Group, will bring its experience working with governments on digital public infrastructure, digital identity, and digital government in developing countries. This perspective can help ensure that emerging approaches take into account the practical realities of implementation, including interoperability, institutional capacity, and different levels of digital maturity.