An Advaita Vedanta Approach to Agentic AI Identity and Governance

We propose an overarching framework for agentic artificial intelligence (AI) governance by drawing technical parallels from Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Our framework maps key concepts — atman, prakrti, dharma, jiva, and karma — to modern AI components. We use it to suggest solutions for the identity problem and the control problem of agentic AI. We approach the identity problem through the concept of citta, an immutable record of conduct that serves as a unique identifier for an agent. To address the control problem, we introduce an intrinsic governance model based on an asymmetric actor–critic architecture, where an internal reward model ensures alignment without the need for high-cost external guardrails. Moreover, we suggest technical specifications including Merkle-based structures for secure identity and simulated student phases for robust adversarial training.