Who's doing this, and what's decided

What this is

Saakshya is a non-profit we're setting up. Its job is to make it possible for a bank, a hospital or a government office to check an AI agent before letting it in: who the agent is, who sent it, what it may do, and whether that permission still stands. If something goes wrong later, there should be a record that doesn't depend on anyone's say-so.

The name means evidence, or a witness. In Hindi, साक्ष्य is what a person who saw it happen can be asked about later. That's the idea.

Why a non-profit

Think about UPI. A payment from one app to another works because the rules for how apps and banks talk to each other sit with a body that none of them owns. NPCI, which runs UPI, is a not-for-profit company, as we understand it. If those rules belonged to one app, the others would have good reason to stay out.

A register of agents has the same shape. If a single company owned it, its competitors would hesitate to trust it. A government office would hesitate to depend on it. A non-profit that its members run is a better home for rules that many parties need to share.

In India the usual form for that is a Section 8 company. It can't pay dividends, and it has to put any surplus back into its aims. That's what we're setting up. We're not part of NPCI, and we haven't borrowed its name or its authority. We're borrowing an argument.

Who is behind it

One person started Saakshya. That person is named in our privacy notice as responsible for personal data until the foundation exists, and is our grievance officer. There's no board yet, and no staff.

What's decided

• The aim is that Saakshya registers the individual, company or institution behind each agent, checks their documents and the agent's details, and issues the agent an identity.
• Checking an agent's identity works offline, through an SDK.
• At first the foundation runs on grants and donations.
• Saakshya will be a non-profit, set up as a Section 8 company. It's in formation and not yet incorporated.
• It starts in India and is built to work elsewhere.
• A reference implementation exists. The specification will be published openly.
• We intend the specification to be royalty-free. A licence is drafted and isn't signed.
• Saakshya is independent of NPCI, UIDAI, MeitY and every company we mention. Nobody there has endorsed us.
• Applications to join are expressions of interest. Nothing is due from anyone until the foundation exists.

What isn't decided

Quite a lot.

• Who sits on the board. There are no names because there are none yet.
• What membership fees will be. Fees aren't set.
• Which sectors go first after payments.
• When the specification goes public.
• How existing enterprise directories would issue and check our credentials, if they want to.
• How the rules of the foundation can be changed once it exists.

The founding group will shape several of these. That's part of why we're asking organisations to say they're interested before anything is fixed.

Where to find us

Email is the way. The contact page has the addresses. If you'd like to write about us, the press kit has descriptions, the logo and colours, and a short list of things we ask people not to say about us.