This week’s space brings together voices from across the ecosystem to explore one of the most pressing questions in Web3 and beyond: who owns your identity, how do we protect privacy, and how will it evolve as AI becomes a main character online?

• Humpty, a longtime contributor and advocate of decentralized identity and privacy

• Geoff, a veteran ecosystem builder and Head of Community at Ontology

• Barnabas, a grassroots organizer driving education and adoption across Africa

Together, they unpacked how identity, reputation, and privacy intersect with AI — and why the next era of the internet will be defined by these technologies.

At the heart of Web3 is the idea that people should own their identity and data rather than surrender it to corporations. This isn’t just about access — it’s about agency: deciding what to share, when, and with whom.

Barnabas explained how this framing resonates in new communities:

“So many big corporations have control over your data… in Web3, you have the option to control your identity. You are in control of your data, and you get to choose what you want people to see.”

Humpty added that identity must go beyond transactional proof:

“Identity obviously is a much richer kind of grouping of data… it’s not just fees you pay, tokens you trade. That’s purely transactional.”

In other words: digital identity is not just a wallet address — it’s a living record of who you are online.

If identity is to matter, it must work across ecosystems — and protect privacy while doing so. A wallet tied to one chain or platform isn’t enough; true identity must be portable, secure, and universal.

Humpty highlighted this challenge:

“Even those who build identity tech, many times it is restricted to a single chain, which kind of goes against the ethos of portable identity. It should not work just in one chain.”

For Barnabas, education is the bridge to adoption. If the concepts sound too technical, users won’t engage.

“If you are trying to get everybody to go along, we need to simplify everything… explain it in terms people understand.”

Geoff reinforced the importance of reducing friction:

“Making it easy, removing those barriers, is absolutely essential to building the community.”

The message is clear: identity must be designed for the many, not just the technically savvy few.

The rise of AI introduces a new layer of complexity. As non-human agents flood the internet, how do we know what information to trust — and who (or what) is behind it? Identity and reputation may be the missing links.

Humpty framed the problem of trust in AI outputs:

“We need some sort of attribution in terms of whether that is a good result, whether that’s a bad result, whether it has aged terribly, or was the agent hallucinating the whole time.”

Reputation isn’t just about people anymore — it must also apply to AI. The credibility of an agent, and by extension its builders, will determine whether others choose to engage with it.

“It is predicted that agents will outnumber real people on the internet before too long. To be able to recognize their reputability in terms of what they share or what they build, I think is good.”

Geoff pointed to the opportunity this creates for builders:

“There’s a real opportunity to launch and have something out there that’s really cool… and if you are a developer, start thinking about how you can develop those AI apps to launch in the marketplace.”

This is more than a tech challenge — it’s a cultural one. Just as identity made Web3 human, reputation systems may be what makes AI trustworthy.

Identity is shifting from a personal right to a shared infrastructure — the backbone of privacy, reputation, and AI.

As Barnabas showed, education and simplification will bring new users into the fold. As Humpty argued, reputation is what gives identity true value. And as Geoff reminded us, AI is pushing these systems into urgent new territory.

The next chapter of the internet won’t just be about proving who we are — it will be about proving who (or what) the agents we interact with really are.

Next week, we’ll dive deeper into AI identity and attribution:

• How do we distinguish between reliable and unreliable AI outputs?

• What role should onchain reputation play in assessing AI agents?

• And how do we design incentives so builders of trustworthy agents are rewarded?

Expect more builders and researchers to join as we continue mapping the frontier of identity in the age of AI.