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NHI

By Updated

Non-human identity: the identity of an agent, service account or machine actor. Every NHI gets a registry entry, an owner and a scope before it is allowed to act.

Developed in
ch. 05, Pattern: Agent Identity & Scoped Credentials
ch. 23, Identity and short-lived credentials
Chapters
ch. 04, The Stack · ch. 05, Patterns · ch. 23, AI Agents
Contrast with
Workload identity
Source
Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source

Where it is used

3 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

NHI: mentions per chapter3 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Other chapterCross-referenced, not named04 The Stack005 Patterns006 The Role: 1 mention06 The Role110 Reading List: 1 mention10 Reading List115 Deployment: 1 mention15 Deployment123 AI Agents0No mentions in the other 17 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
NHI: mentions per chapter3 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Other chapterCross-referenced, not named00010203040506 The Role: 1 mention106070810 Reading List: 1 mention1101112131415 Deployment: 1 mention1151617181920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of NHI per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0Yes
05 Patterns0Yes
06 The Role1No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List1No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development0No
15 Deployment1No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0Yes

Sources

No external source: the term is coined or used in a specific sense by this Body of Knowledge, and the section linked under "Developed in" is its source.

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). NHI. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/nhi. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026nhi,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{NHI}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/nhi}
}