AGI-ERA · AI ACCOUNTABILITY

Agent-to-Agent Accountability Receipts.

In an economy where agents act on behalf of other agents, the missing layer is not identity. It is the human-accountable receipt of who authorized what, for which scope, with what right of refusal. This page extends PLENA's existing single-human-to-single-agent work into agent-to-agent and multi-agent territory.

Market context

2026 industry reporting documents a significant accountability gap in agentic AI. Surveys indicate the majority of organizations have experienced AI-agent security incidents in the past year, and a minority of teams treat agents as independent identity-bearing entities. Standards bodies including NIST (AI Agent Standards Initiative, February 2026), CoSAI (Workstream 4, March 2026 — Agentic Identity and Access Management), the W3C (AI Agent Protocol Community Group), and OWASP (Top 10 for Agentic Applications, December 2025) are actively developing identity and protocol standards. PLENA's contribution is downstream: the human-accountable receipt layer that sits above identity (CoSAI / NIST / OAuth) and protocol (MCP / A2A / AP2), recording which named human authorized which agent for which scope, with refusal, revocation, and audit trail.

Standards alignment

PLENA's receipt grammar is designed to support the documentation, logging, post-market monitoring, and human-oversight evidence obligations typical of EU AI Act Article 16 (provider obligations for high-risk AI systems, including quality management system and technical documentation requirements) and ISO/IEC 42001 AI management system implementations. PlenaProof does not provide regulatory conformity assessment, CE marking, or ISO certification, which are performed by accredited bodies.

Complementarity

PlenaProof does not compete with agentic identity standards (OAuth-for-Agents, SPIFFE, OpenID Connect extensions, CoSAI Agentic IAM), protocols (MCP, A2A, AP2, AG-UI, A2UI, X42, ACP), or governance toolkits. PLENA's receipt grammar is designed to layer on top of whichever identity and protocol standards an organization adopts.

The PLENA A2A receipt elements

Existing PLENA receipt formats applied to agent-to-agent and multi-agent action — not a new platform.

Human authorization scope receipt

Declares which named human authorized agent X to act on behalf of organization Y, within scope Z, for time window W, with permitted handoff conditions.

Agent-to-agent handoff receipt

When agent X delegates to agent X′, a receipt recording the original human authorizer, delegation scope (must be a subset of X's scope), expiration, and revocation channel.

Multi-agent orchestration receipt

For swarms of agents acting together, a receipt recording each agent's role, mandate, and the named human responsible for that mandate.

Refusal receipt

When a named human reviewer declines to authorize an agent action, the existing Refusal Receipt format applies — scope, reason, and date, without exposing private evidence.

Public verification

A third party — regulator, counterparty, journalist, customer — can check whether an A2A action was authorized via PLENA's existing Public Verify, without trusting the AI vendor's logs.

Where A2A receipts are useful

Procurement
Company A's procurement agent contracts with Company B's sales agent. A PLENA receipt records both sides' human authorization scopes.
Healthcare triage
An AI triage agent escalates to an AI specialist agent for a high-risk case. The receipt records the clinician who authorized escalation and the scope of decisions the specialist agent may make.
Financial reconciliation
A finance agent at a stablecoin issuer pulls reserve data from a custody agent; the receipt records the CFO authorization (linking to the GENIUS Act stablecoin workflow).
Research synthesis
A research agent commissions a writing agent and a citation-checking agent; the receipt records the principal investigator's authorization and the scope each agent may act under.

What PlenaProof is, and is not

PlenaProof does not host AI agents, run agent protocols, manage agent identity directories, or replace any agentic IAM, governance, or runtime-security tool. PLENA's receipt grammar is designed to record the human-accountable authorization, refusal, and review around agent actions. This sector page describes an intended receipt workflow, not current production integrations with MCP, A2A, AP2, NIST, CoSAI, OWASP, the W3C, or any specific agentic AI platform.

Related PLENA receipt grammar

Hyperagent Attestation · self-modifying AI AI Training & Deployment AI Agent Authorization ReceiptsAI Agent Action RegistryAI Oversight ReceiptsAI Harm Defense Refusal ReceiptsSworn Human Reviewer RegistryEnterprise Proof LayerVRX-5 AI-Era Trust Receipts Public VerifyProof Moat AI Training & Deployment Attestation Diaspora Inheritance & Continuity Healthcare Consent Labor & Recruitment Carbon & Climate Finance

For enterprises and AI platforms

For enterprises deploying multi-agent systems, AI platforms designing agent governance, and institutions preparing for the EU AI Act high-risk obligations effective August 2026, subject to ongoing EU "AI Omnibus" simplification discussions that may extend specific deadlines: PlenaProof welcomes pilot conversations.