Domain Name Wire Podcast Agent Name Service – DNW Podcast #568
Jan 5, 2026
James Bladel, VP of Corporate and Government Affairs at GoDaddy, shares insights from his extensive experience with ICANN and domain name policy. He dives into the innovative Agent Name Service proposal, which could enhance trust and discovery for AI agents using the Domain Name System. James discusses the potential boost in domain registrations through unique domains for each agent and outlines the push for ANS to become an open standard, while addressing concerns around DNS abuse and the slow pace of ICANN's policy development.
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DNS Records Can Carry Agent Metadata
- ANS could return metadata about an agent such as operator, language, and expected communications via DNS records.
- Repurposing DNS as a service-agnostic lookup platform enables richer agent discovery beyond web resources.
Rally Industry Players To Build ANS As An Open Standard
- GoDaddy is engaging technical bodies, ICANN, IETF, registries, registrars, and AI publishers to build ANS as an open standard.
- James urges industry collaboration to avoid fragmented proprietary systems and make ANS successful.
Give Each Agent Its Own Domain And Cert
- Each verified ANS agent should have its own fully qualified domain name and specific SSL certificate.
- This model will create repeatable, trusted interactions and likely increase domain registrations industry-wide.