Personal Information Agent - Revision history

Tom: /* Full Title or Meme */

2026-01-08T01:13:06Z

‎Full Title or Meme

Tom: /* Full Title or Meme */

2025-02-26T02:53:54Z

‎Full Title or Meme

Tom: /* Problems */

2025-01-13T01:44:06Z

‎Problems

Tom: /* Context */

2025-01-13T01:42:35Z

‎Context

Tom: /* PAs will disconnect */

2025-01-13T01:04:19Z

‎PAs will disconnect

Tom: /* PAs will analyze */

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‎PAs will analyze

Tom: /* Jamie Smith */

2025-01-13T00:57:19Z

‎Jamie Smith

Tom: /* Solutions */

2024-11-26T01:46:22Z

‎Solutions

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2024-11-16T05:10:07Z

‎References

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Tom: /* Context */

2024-10-24T21:37:17Z

‎Context

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:13, 8 January 2026
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	This digital entity (the PIA) may act as a [[Delegate]] in some cases, like an auto response unit if the natural person is unavailable.		This digital entity (the PIA) may act as a [[Delegate]] in some cases, like an auto response unit if the natural person is unavailable.
		+
		+	This is a subset of the functionality of a [[Personal Digital Assistant]].

	==Context==		==Context==

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 Support for a personal assistant to help users control access to their personal information.
-This digital entity (the PIA) may act as a delegate in some cases, like an auto response unit if the natural person is unavailable.
+This digital entity (the PIA) may act as a [[Delegate]] in some cases, like an auto response unit if the natural person is unavailable.
 ==Context==

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 * Most identifier authentication services on the web now offer a [[Service Endpoint]] that can provide information about the identifier. If the user is hosting their identifier on there smartphone, no service endpoint on that phone could be always available for query.
 * Nearly all of the privacy solution require users to keep separate track of identifiers used in public and private settings. This is not likely to be acceptable to the majority of users if we don't also give them a [[User Agent]] that can track all of their relationships and the identifier that they use for that relationship.
 ==Solutions==

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 * The operating assumption on this page is that users want to delegate part of the decisions about releasing the personal data to an agent that operates solely on their behalf.
 * Another assumption is that a large majority of users would not toleration interruptions every time some element of their personal information was accessed.
 * 2024-10-20 [https://www.fintechbrainfood.com/p/ai-agents Consumer AI Agents in Fintech] Simon Taylor
 * Relationships on the internet are mostly [[Asynchronous]] where users would like to have some privacy, but demand that organization a fully transparent about themselves and the motives in accumulating user personal information. This page is concerned solely with natural persons and their desire to not have all of their personal information on display to all enterprises where they interchange information.

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 Sound odd? Well, businesses already do this today. They send out ‘RFPs’ (Requests For Proposals) all the time, for other companies to respond back with information and offers.
-And so our PAs will handle ‘Personal RFPs’ on our behalf. Doc Searls wrote about this idea in ‘The Intention Economy’ back in 2015. Please go and read it. It’s an idea whose time has come.
+And so our PAs will handle ‘Personal RFPs’ on our behalf. Doc Searls wrote about this idea in [https://doc.searls.com/2024/12/30/the-real-intention-economy/ ‘The Intention Economy’] back in 2015. It’s an idea whose time has come.
 My ‘buying signals’ will reach brands in three ways:
-Via other AI agents. Platforms and software whose only job is to connect people (demand) to brands (supply). These will be new AI connection bots that are dedicated to helping businesses find customers (see the recent Customer Futures post on that).
+A mini side note. Look at that last point above. Businesses will respond with an ‘offer’. With these three models in place above, powered by our digital PAs, digital advertising is about to be turned on its head. Today, businesses spray ads out, hoping for ‘relevance’ and ‘engagement’. But it’s all guesswork. And is why the response rate to digital ads is less than 4%. But here’s the thing: digital ads won’t be ads any more. They’ll be offers. Sent directly to my Personal Agent, in response to a verified request from me. And depending on the context, my PA will either respond directly (see Automation), or present me with a summary of the options, with a recommendation (see Augmentation).
-Via trusted marketplaces. My PA will be connected to specific dynamic marketplaces that can find what I need. A bit like today’s high-frequency trading platforms that moderate ads, but instead they will trade and manage anonymous needs and corresponding offers. Today’s existing online marketplaces will evolve to accept - and respond to - your digital Personal Agent.
+There’s so much more to be written about autonomous Personal Agents. But for now just understand that AI autonomy is going to completely change how we spend time online. How we interact. And that it will completely disrupt customer engagement as we know it.
-Via direct connections to companies. Once you understand the power of private, personal digital connections, you’ll see that My Personal Agent will already be linked, privately and securely, to the businesses I already deal with. So my PA will be able to pump my needs directly into the company’s existing marketing machines and CRM tools. Those brands will be able to respond directly to me with an offer. PA-to-CRM integrations are already being built in the market.
+====Personal Agents will empower====
 Personal Assistants. Personal Agents. Agent AI. Whatever we call them, these new digital tools will augment, automate and act autonomously. And they’ll do so from the customer side. They will empower us. Perhaps for the first time, we’ll finally be able to participate fully in the digital economy.
 Independently. Privately. Securely.

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 There’s much more to say about ‘augmentation’ another time, but this gives you a feel for it. Helping us get smarter, faster, better.
-But what about getting PAs to do things?
+====But what about getting PAs to do things?====
 If you’re enjoying this and want to dig deeper into Empowerment Tech, digital wallets and the future of digital customer engagement, why not sign up:
-Personal Agent ‘Automation’
+====Personal Agent ‘Automation’====
 Personal Agents will also be able to complete tasks in the background, so I don’t have to.
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 These customer-side automation capabilities alone will unlock a new $bn market for the next wave of digital transformation.
-PAs will minimise
+====PAs will minimise====
 When my Personal Agent does respond to a request, where possible it will also be able to minimise the data it sends back. Why send a date of birth when it can respond with an age? And why send an age when you can send back a ‘Y’ or ‘N’ indicating ‘Over 21’.
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 The point? We can minimise what data is shared, and therefore what is stored within businesses. Vastly reducing the business’s costs to clean, secure, insure and maintain the data. Not to mention the compliance benefits.
-PAs will audit
+====PAs will audit====
 Agents will quietly and precisely keep an auditable record of who asked for what. What was sent, to whom and when.
 These records won’t become a data lake for the advertising groups to go swimming in. Rather, they will be about building digital confidence and managing liability. And perhaps most importantly, so we the customers can ‘undo’ tasks when things go wrong (which they will).
-PAs will connect
+====PAs will connect====
 Web2 platforms help us connect our digital services. Uber and Spotify. Facebook and Shopify. But we can’t remember what’s connected to what. Which company gets to access what, when, for how long and why. Instead, Personal Agents will connect me securely, peer-to-peer, to the people, digital services and businesses that I need.
-PAs will disconnect, too
+====PAs will disconnect====
 Here’s the kicker. Those private connections will last only as long as each party wishes them to. Meaning that the customer (or business for that matter) can turn it off whenever they want. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enshrined eight rights for individuals. I believe that digital PA will give customers a new capability that they didn’t have before… a new 9th right: The Right To Disconnect.
-Today, once a business has my email or phone number, they can contact me whenever they want. With PAs, not only can I screen those companies out (for example with queueing, see above) but by disconnecting those companies completely. Now that’s data protection.
+Today, once a business has my email or phone number, they can contact me whenever they want. With PAs, not only can I screen those companies out (for example with queuing, see above) but by disconnecting those companies completely. Now that’s data protection.
 Good luck shoving another consent screen in front of me, and then quietly tapping up my data for the next 180 days or whenever.
-Holy Digital Transformation batman.
+When you remember that we’ve spent billions of dollars digitizing the business side of the market… then just wait until you see what’s possible when we digitize the customer side.
 Still, this is only half the story. There’s more.
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 So as our digital PAs augment and automate our lives, and as they increasingly act on our behalf, we’ll need to keep a close eye on how they work. Who runs them. And with what business model.
-I’ll say it again: The issue with AI won’t be digital privacy. It’s going to be digital intimacy.
+I’ll say it again: The issue with AI won’t be digital privacy. It’s going to be digital intimacy. I hope you can see now that Personal Agents will become a magical complement to Digital Wallets and Personal Data Vaults. Getting Things Done for digital customers. Overall, I’m excited. Because in my view, Personal Agents will become the beating heart of customer digital empowerment.
 And our digital PAs will become the very definition of what it means to be a digital customer.

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 Digital 'PAs' will become the beating heart of digital empowerment - Getting Things Done for digital customers
-Jamie Smith
+Jamie Smith Mar 21, 2024
-This is a PERSPECTIVE edition, a regular take on the future of digital customer relationships.
+This is a PERSPECTIVE edition, a regular take on the future of digital customer relationships. In a recent post, I wrote about the trio of ‘Empowerment Tech’ capabilities:
 Digital Wallets - THE WHAT
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 We’ll see that they will be the beating heart of digital empowerment. Getting Things Done for digital customers.
 I recently chatted with the excellent Joel Miller from ExoBrain, his new AI consultancy. He talked about how AI will have three modes:
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 Here are some examples of how PAs will feel, and what they can do.
-PAs will recommend
+====PAs will recommend====
 My PA will be personal to me, and understand my preferences. It will help me make better decisions using much smarter inputs. For example, mixing together personal insights from my own purchases (e.g. you’ll like this author), expert suggestions (e.g. published book club lists), and digital product insights (e.g. people who bought this book bought this one).
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 While some people will want fine-tuned controls over the recommendations (a list of the cheapest vs. fastest to arrive vs. most popular), many will just want the answer. ‘Just Buy This One’.
-PAs will prompt
+====PAs will prompt====
 Not only will my Personal Agent suggest products and services, but it will prompt the ‘Next Best Action’.
 “I see you have a new verified address. Would you like to securely share this information with the 27 businesses who have asked for it before? You can ignore these 31 companies as you have not been interacting with them for over 2 years, or they were a one-off purchase needing delivery”.
-PAs will queue
+====PAs will queue====
 Personal Agents will handle much of the ‘inbound’ stuff you get every day. Just think about all the emails, SMS, WhatsApps and messages you get on social media. Missed calls. Calendar invites. All the accounts that need to be updated.
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 My PA will queue up all the requests, prioritise them, prepare responses, and where needed, ask you to approve. This isn’t crazy futuristic stuff. It’s really just about giving my personal, private PA access to my information and message streams. Asking it to make sense of my data flows, and then only show me what’s needed and when.
-PAs will sync
+====PAs will sync====
 Personal Agents will be able to sync your data across devices and services. Meaning you can always access what you need, when and where you need it.
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 By syncing your data across devices and contexts, your PA will also be able to handle data back-ups too. Handy.
-PAs will analyse
+====PAs will analyze====
 Finding patterns, root causes and themes across your digital life. Things you can’t see. Your PA will be able to make sense of your data in ways you can’t. And because you’ll control the personal data inputs and rules (perhaps from a Personal Vault or ‘Decentralised Web Node’), you’ll be able to trust the insights.

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 ==Solutions==
 Any solution that met the context described above would need to have an agent that was responsible to, and trusted by, the person that owned the personal data.
 ===Personal Smartphone Agent===
 ===Web based Agent===