Meta joins efforts to set new standard for AI agents
Meta and Sierra are joining forces with major technology companies to develop a new standard that could change how personal AI agents interact with businesses, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The protocol is being developed with industry partners including Genesys, Instinct, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. It aims to provide a secure and consistent way for personal agents to interact with companies through websites, APIs or company-operated agents.
Personal agents currently often navigate websites and apps much like human users, clicking through pages and forms. The new protocol is intended to enable direct connections that can complete tasks more quickly and securely.
Under the proposed system, consumers decide what access to give their personal agents, while companies set limits on what those agents can do. Customers can grant read-only or write access depending on the task.
The protocol uses OAuth, an established authorization standard, and allows agents to interact with companies through their websites, APIs based on standards such as MCP and OpenAPI, or company agents for tasks requiring conversation.
Sierra and Meta plan to publish the protocol’s v0.1 specification later this month, hold design workshops and release a reference implementation for developers.
Future extensions could allow customers and companies to set more detailed permissions, enable companies to send real-time notifications to personal agents, and allow agents to make payments without sharing customers’ credit card information.
“Personal Agent Protocol is an important step toward creating the shared foundation this new era of customer experience will require,” Genesys Chairman and CEO Tony Bates said.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that US President Donald Trump and executives from some of the world’s biggest technology companies had signed a voluntary agreement pledging stronger safeguards for advanced AI systems.