Known Engages Pillsbury as Strategic Policy Counsel to Advance Accountability Infrastructure for Autonomous AI

Effort Focuses on Advancing Open Standards for AI Agent Accountability

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Known, a company building accountability infrastructure for autonomous AI, today announced that it has engaged Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as strategic policy counsel to support the company’s work across industry, government and the broader technology ecosystem. The announcement follows Known’s spinout from Identity Digital last month.

Known is advancing DNSid, an open, neutral framework that gives AI agents persistent, independently verifiable identities tied to the organizations responsible for them. Existing identity and access systems largely authenticate and authorize agents within particular environments. As agents increasingly operate beyond those environments, organizations need a way to independently establish who is accountable for an agent they encounter. Built on the Domain Name System, infrastructure already operating at Internet scale, DNSid provides that cross-organizational layer while complementing, not replacing, existing authentication, authorization and security systems.

“We have a responsibility to help get the architecture for agent accountability right before the ecosystem hardens around proprietary approaches,” said Allie Kline, Interim CEO of Known. “Washington is moving quickly, and the industry is moving even faster. The choices being made now will have lasting consequences for how agents operate across companies, platforms and government systems. Our position is simple. Accountability for agents cannot belong to any single platform. It has to work across them. Our work with Pillsbury will help bring that perspective into the policy conversation at a moment when the rules and technical frameworks are being shaped.”

Pillsbury will advise Known as it engages policymakers, government agencies, industry leaders and standards organizations on the policy and technical landscape for autonomous AI. The firm's AI practice counsels companies and government agencies navigating the evolving AI regulatory and legal landscape.

About Known

Known is building accountability infrastructure for autonomous AI. As AI agents increasingly operate across organizations, platforms and jurisdictions, Known is advancing DNSid, an open, neutral, DNS-based approach designed to make accountability interoperable at Internet scale. Known is working with industry, government, and standards communities to develop this approach through open, collaborative processes. For more information, visit www.knownsystems.ai and www.DNSid.ai.

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Broadsheet Communications
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