Human-Authorised Connections in Trusted Communication
Setting the Stage
The Summit on Human Agency in Napa, California in February 2026 brought together global leaders in AI, identity, and trust frameworks. Organised by H2H, Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust, and the Advanced AI Society, the event focused on a defining challenge of the agentic economy: ensuring human authority in AI-driven systems.
About H2H
H2H is a convening and trust infrastructure company enabling meaningful, verifiable human and business relationships in the age of AI. Through curated events and privacy-preserving technologies, H2H catalyses social and professional connections that are anchored in verifiable personhood credentials, consented connections, and direct human control over identity, social graphs and personal data.
For H2H, the Summit was an opportunity to demonstrate how in-person events provide a constructive setting for people to generate and share verifiable personhood and relationship credentials with the help of privacy-first technologies. The central idea is that, human agency in the age of AI will be anchored in the widespread adoption of these credentials and in the data-locked “trust graphs” of human connection they enable. The team envisioned an event experience where participants could connect, collaborate, and share credentials securely, thus growing their interpersonal trust graphs, without exposing personal identifiers or relying on surveillance-prone platforms.
The Challenge
Traditional event networking tools expose personal identifiers, rely on centralised platforms, and leave metadata trails vulnerable to surveillance. For a summit dedicated to human agency – which hinges upon people and groups of people retaining full control over their personal and interpersonal data – this was a contradiction. The challenge was to create a privacy-first communication channel that allowed secure discovery, messaging, and verifiable credential exchange between humans and/or agents while ensuring that humans remained provably in control.
The Solution: H2H Connect App Powered by Affinidi Meeting Place SDK
To solve for this, Affinidi collaborated with H2H to develop the H2H Connect app, which gives users a safe and secure way to discover, connect, and communicate with other users and AI agents. Powered by Affinidi Meeting Place SDK, it uses Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) as both the identity and the communication endpoint. This enables secure, private, and if needed, even anonymous interactions.
The event application delivered trusted messaging in action, using these foundational capabilities:
- Passphrase Based Discovery allowed attendees to connect without exposing phone numbers or emails.
- End to End Encryption ensured that even infrastructure providers could not access message content.
- Dynamic Credential Sharing let individuals selectively disclose verifiable information during conversations.
- Open Standards (DIDComm v2.1) guaranteed interoperability and control across ecosystems.
Key Application Features
Create Multiple Personas
Create anonymous or fully identified personas, each with their unique DID, so you control exactly how you appear in every interaction. In the H2H Connect app, you’re not tied to a single persona, which gives you the freedom to engage on your terms.
Connect with Other Attendees
Connect with people at the event by scanning their invitation QR code or entering the passphrase they shared with you. Every connection creates a secure, private channel powered by unique Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs).
Connect with AI Agents
Connect with the H2H Event Agent for personalised matchmaking and event information. For insights on Affinidi, the First Person Project and Google A2A, connect with the respective AI agents.
Exchange Verifiable Relationship Credentials (VRCs)
Exchange VRCs with your connections. Once connected, you can share a VRC that confirms your relationship privately and peer-to-peer.
Share Relationship Cards (R-cards)
R-cards are digital business cards tailored to the persona you choose. You can share them with your connections through private, secure channels.
“The H2H Connect app shows the breadth of this opportunity: people connecting securely without platform intermediaries, verifying identities without surveillance, and maintaining control over their data as it travels with them.” – Glenn Gore, CEO, Affinidi
The Results
Over 170 delegates downloaded the app across both iOS and Android with 65% of them interacting with the event’s AI Agent. 80% of the users provided feedback that the app experience was good and gave it an NPS rating of 40.
The app transformed networking into a trust-anchored, privacy-first experience. Attendees experimented with new ways of managing professional relationships, grounded in verifiable personhood and human consent.
On a macro level, the demonstration reflected broader trends shaping the digital economy:
- Rising demand for privacy technologies in AI governance.
- The need for trusted infrastructures to comply with evolving regulations like GDPR and PDPA.
- The emergence of an “intention economy”, where individuals and businesses unlock AI’s potential with data under their control.
“We need a human anchor for agent delegation that’s based on safe, reliable proofs of personhood and verified trust relationships.” – Michael Casey, cofounder of H2H and Chair of the Advanced AI Society.
The H2H Connect App proved that trusted messaging is not just a technical feature, it is a cornerstone of human agency in the digital age. By combining privacy first discovery, encrypted communication, and credential-based trust, the Affinidi Meeting Place SDK enabled the summit to embody its mission: ensuring that humans remain at the centre of AI driven systems.