Inventing the Internet Without Writing Code: Heather Flanagan on Identity, Standards, and AI at Scale | SaviTalk by Saviynt

Heather Flanagan has helped shape the internet — without ever being a developer.

 

From leading the RFC Series at the IETF to building peer-reviewed identity knowledge through IDPro, Heather has spent her career translating complex technical debates into global standards that quietly power how the internet works. In this episode of SaviTalk, she joins David Lee and Henrique Teixeira for a candid conversation about identity standards, AI acceleration, and what it really takes to build consensus at internet scale.

 

They unpack the tension between speed and governance in the AI era, why vendors avoid standards participation (and why that’s risky), and how “harmless but useless” specs still make it into production. If you care about IAM, AI agents, wallets, machine identities, or digital trust — this episode pulls back the curtain on how the rules of the internet actually get written.

 

Follow SaviTalk by Saviynt for more unscripted conversations with the people shaping identity security.