The second area of vulnerability is situational and more volatile. Physical infrastructure, such as data centres, towers, or subsea internet cables, is critical infrastructure, facilitating the delivery of essential services and information delivery in times of crisis, emergency and war. Investment in the development and deployment of next-generation solutions such as LEO satellites can enable connectivity and continuity of essential operations amid traditional hazards. While this is an ongoing challenge dependent on geopolitical realities, public-private cooperation to ensure resilient physical infrastructure is essential to a robust future internet. Data processing is also likely to be crucial to the further development of the agentic web, where AI agents are required to process data and make decisions or perform tasks on behalf of users. From acutely important use cases such as early medical detection and health optimization to everyday quality- of-life improvements like better recommendation systems, AI systems and agents will be a driving force in upleveling the internet. Their operations, though, must be tempered by clear and user-serving data transfer protocols, data processing norms and data inference practices. If these points are worked out and AI agents are designed in accordance with them, they can deliver on their positive impact while minimizing potential harms. Digital identity Digital identity is a layered and varied amalgamation of personalized data and identifiers that form unique profiles, enabling deeper personal utility, more robust security, and seamless movement across digital and blended spaces. The thinning categorical distinction separating traditionally conceptualized digital ID and digital identity is rapidly disappearing, making way for a more singular iteration, both essential to and for DPI. This evolution is driven by two distinct yet uniquely intersecting trends, which are rapidly advancing the next generation of digital identity. The first trend comes as governments work to drive digital transformation, a process for which digital identity stands as the gateway to access a broad array of essential financial, healthcare, civic and educational services traditionally delivered offline. Effective architecture for digital identity has been made possible through close private-public partnerships focused on delivering services that are publicly offered, hosted and governed, but underpinned by private technology solutions. In the United States, for example, the government’s Internal Revenue Service offers online data retrieval and filing services that require identity verification protocols, provided by the private sector.3 Similarly, Estonia’s highly-regarded and advanced e-ID is underpinned by various private national companies facilitating authentication, verification and encryption protocols for seamless navigation and exchanges.4 The second trend is an expansion of technologies enabling digital identity and the data types that constitute it. These technologies broadly support the building and sustaining of a fluid digital identity, incorporating elements such as biometrics, physical health and body-based data, and secure service-interoperable profiles. These also serve to support traditional use cases such as security and credentialing. The most ubiquitous form of expanded identity-related technologies is wearables and hardware that capture a repository of new classes of body-based user data, contributing to the building of a dynamic and multilayered digital identity. Fitbit or the Apple Watch, for example, capture significant amounts of personal data, including heart rate, sleep patterns and blood oxygen levels, which can be used – with appropriate user notice and consent – by both private and public entities, enabling use cases such as more affordable access to individualized health and wellness plans.5 Simultaneously, companies like CLEAR that capture biometric data6 are expanding their business model from airport convenience to verification in additional venues such as stadiums and, more recently, as a safety mechanism through a partnership with Uber. Both these trends are poised to continue offering tech solutions and services that enhance consumer experience while maximizing benefits. The risks that emerge, however, have little to do with the technology itself, but rather, how it is deployed and governed, particularly when multiple actors engage in multi-step data transactions with a wide user base, such as a nation’s citizenry. Forecast The emerging challenge facing further development of DPI- supported digital identity will be primarily around interoperability, privacy and responsible data stewardship, particularly in the face of hardware designed for XR and AI-supported predictive capabilities. Those capabilities, if responsibly delivered, offer massive value potential to users. For example, Ray-Ban Meta glasses offer a hands-free form factor and Meta AI integrations, allowing for new modalities of interaction and enabling physically disabled users new opportunities for access and utility.7 Customizable AI agents, like those being developed by Meta, Google and OpenAI, can be informed by multimodal context and learn how to engage with a unique user. Digital identities will not only enable security, but also access to and value from technologies such as AI agents and smart wearables. The concept of the agentic web also implies a need to fundamentally reassess how to understand digital identity and agency. Users have traditionally acted as their own agents, managing digital identities and their associated interactions. AI agents now operate on their behalf, extending digital identity while also performing independent, non-human tasks.8 Developing the agentic web in a safe, trustworthy way will require first understanding where and how digital identities square with agents, including on such topics as permission and consent, authentication and agent-to-agent interactions. Digital identity should be interoperable and must be constituted and utilized with user consent and ethical practices in the highest regard. The future internet, layered with XR and powered by AI, cannot exist without a continuous and interoperable digital identity that allows secure and uninterrupted user experiences.

State of Play 2025