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Mon, 25 Aug 2025 09:35:24 +0000 From: Adam Sobieski To: "sml@ietf.org" Thread-Topic: Structured Email and AI Agents Thread-Index: AQHcFZ2az8zLk6jKQUGWhw92a9CV7A== Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2025 09:35:24 +0000 Message-ID: Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: msip_labels: x-ms-exchange-messagesentrepresentingtype: 1 x-ms-publictraffictype: Email x-ms-traffictypediagnostic: DS4PPF69F41B22E:EE_|CH0P223MB0380:EE_ x-ms-office365-filtering-correlation-id: 62b059a8-8b20-4d0e-5145-08dde3bab7bc x-microsoft-antispam: BCL:0;ARA:14566002|461199028|5062599005|8062599012|8060799015|15030799006|19110799012|41001999006|12050799012|9400799033|31061999003|15080799012|40105399003|39105399003|3412199025|51005399003|440099028|102099032|10035399007; x-microsoft-antispam-message-info: =?iso-8859-1?Q?2JgZvITvPENWk5njJEUG3MrU7SGJlIIodt1QB2SP7kMVFD1kNwnFO+aprf?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?qVEVE4MYgVozfpeARzIzwKYqSvMJZ72tEfjPYy71M9AENfyht6BSjXUgJG?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?GTkwiBiaDPrpGbe24WeUZlfnzsyqiCqhHB1nwVSHYEAXaN+8/lH34+3s06?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?RydEANm9KlYaaoVPSl798b8EKPRBlVBXT36PzCkABADzboHQrq902523zE?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?LxHNG9BtRUibMvFWz/YMnGSinJg1+k2flOxJBXwJ+PO4G/tRPBW5z/52LC?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?mvfW4wWm6G8Ef6ZONNcpJYLHoEDWmZkzDjVfkqMAkCw7cbmEcXynTU2Byx?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?5uknX+N/XeEHPiUYNHepuDJtvihtI6hU7DyCmd65C2VihmZNcixmbM5D2n?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?2nruesSfpILrKaWab5kV5yAgFCbQm9zt2YIOOEgew3TcXyghsXa3b67moc?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?mFjN9g1L1koVaA+Gds34/6vxqYC1WeY1HLovgGlBM7MFa/EebFEfYg8PJz?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?1+XFb5anheZ0LamF4Uwc8+3ZR8LpppBEMeuMbrSdsN9dwq9/7xqRkX6cwl?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?dgi4VTzPWi+40Q3WAQkuUJqz39U47ktU+M4HgDrtkp+uhOTNBYpEy4hTh/?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?RGjSB8BSyw5BHfLFC2gaYO6WIKZ5gWxuVQVxQLtqfxqmlolAvX92gPilYQ?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?BjQOlo8TtyBpaTEusLHh+l7+dJYELQViuTzP8ndJ/uprt9CuVOmMgHiFVd?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?5bzjiX5L6gazHosnDRtjp5JA4r0Y6ZUb3rJdZ0IVm0kAPWbuThdPnH+767?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?e/N9gV82xy4PBaUFbis7LZaZFZzsQgn1Cqk0f+I3xUf34pVM/CJ14mTJuU?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?4Nm5Bhq/a5u6FZnl3UdlIuNIj5bDUgHM0Cn9xnmkO3/q0SZl7JpAuHCO1D?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?gItRJq6ni0n0tCPH9nYPHhWBqBcZ0Hsv5FtbsElbRUmv5TFMnRRq5rMT67?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?+jGdTKK4g4HJ23P9PShzWBUWO1PASZMKnlpxp/+ZjY4jBlravypmCymdE+?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?//X8OQoiqrxfgpUCTw8vOJyBSBQ1jj3am7sahaSei0TRXUoeQ/UK6clOpl?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?JYdHVFeGWaf69LC1ZtVIGL+W/ddTXLtFlFaZbywo9AJk8PqTiSnafj1EAQ?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?gI6OifHLriL+NHtftgbwBBHNZza7nkL1Yh+KbJTokMFvp+rAH9nwOaH5Az?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?fRjy6mNzzoNdJu32ud7vRCJ2mqMgrOiDZCSCyzMcEWkP0lHJZgfbDkdN85?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Rp+faglj5g1kj7w6kuWRxh2kQxS8F4oN5J/eBM/YESIG7v3BiAJAI67/4a?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ah3y5Gw/koA2+NFJyi3vZ8JMgixRcbXsLXRazQcqKETGkYtcab+DQJxXmn?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?5lvTpdR2bZ0ocQxr?= x-ms-exchange-antispam-messagedata-chunkcount: 1 x-ms-exchange-antispam-messagedata-0: =?iso-8859-1?Q?kMV2gwWSKF9X+72ouCtKrHkWfRMUSgZU3vr3IIiiDM4/cgwj+7oc0m642T?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?X2yuL7lxMpHMcxWr9UCGQJlS1PTgyij626UPZg8M5KlQstsVUS5HJYMSbC?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?W26/q5kQ5ZoLkKyOkaYxCVW5GQGBkiDaNFkFs5oitzJ2wKcnIqN6jXvYTo?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?y8Aoe6BzlGlrr3vJPjZhCQZhh6wLnqtm2FQgJQQqGDPVyzE7Q5lA10fqL7?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?TvwnCUI+aRsgWEauSISFLFzNBQ2fN+V2fKQtVf3lrrYlpB6ZpERncDnQF6?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?g97ODm0SiU4BYds7yWfNF2kDyv4ZXVHX1V7KGYPdKZAZPXWm8VpFd8+Yar?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?eLssQIks5dTKBx35KxrseMVAe0+OpTs9dadgqcnEaFXWYI6bj4DbB07jF3?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?1Ry92w+WeJ4W1dB4Cx7f41UXJAO877apwROZxo2d+RcBLF4bc9UqYHjE7F?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?pMk36vC7E/Sr4tUqCLzj9eVa3co2yYJjNrvUxaKXHgI8d/wGm2PwB0GYtZ?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?bjsC643nKr5AZSg37QJrHNHYddE5TrOeG41kb6wbfcbdu2tlwRWkLhoqLM?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?k81hjigIlevwi84pRWKc8ScTG8jFvMX2SXJMf9zdAu+gRVVtxK64BTefYH?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?ejp+S3RfQdbwMzChzx/0jLarKp7ToSE/+ImqsG8kbHNJevRtNsCh6V3kQW?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?EWtFZsHNcFOHPDGjl/vgRI1uqjPM6CP5dM+w0HqmNA9RxYJX541e8X528X?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?/wBjaqbMhhQNXkC0blCDbqXVAjEUIrbyu8aXXr67sO6sZg8Ad/Nt54NENZ?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?IJkrqcJzldxjVxB17gJPkurj3vqk3WO3W60eLwY05FDyqUvgidiKfS1Ipn?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?fNv9m+old7m3sJXE1OYBk99e17MiC7/hukqXp9MZDQzTq0kEygMusGGqMP?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?tXjTaXCmaKl2FjPzLp4TulyeCUJyAQjcT3PBEvgayN4FTK0hH5S/cWdinv?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?N689Ap9MKx0ViHn0k0CUfrhQQC22//Wic4jKTLQLffp5Vh750LmB0Nfuia?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?ZFBEeAkXjSfL52r/wA29ZkKfTU5Qqf2HJY7vLXUe2kder2h7YgeGmHu5De?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?SWi7sdaf2C5CybSklD9J6G8i2thJparq+wZycWcaLQZIexOeJysEB1MxOV?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?dqkTotVrNJGbR5T9h5A/q+ibtMz7EUt06VHZdJsWFgtj5+pFcdXG0PdA6o?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?KNn2VoWkERXUqfHYSDVRXpNbHWw7UU699FYFWcxPM=3D?= Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_000_DS4PPF69F41B22E72C08B1885D3E7B1571DC53EADS4PPF69F41B22E_" MIME-Version: 1.0 X-OriginatorOrg: sct-15-20-8534-20-msonline-outlook-c7cf3.templateTenant X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-AuthAs: Internal X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-AuthSource: DS4PPF69F41B22E.NAMP223.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-RMS-PersistedConsumerOrg: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Network-Message-Id: 62b059a8-8b20-4d0e-5145-08dde3bab7bc X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-originalarrivaltime: 25 Aug 2025 09:35:24.2411 (UTC) X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-fromentityheader: Hosted X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-id: 84df9e7f-e9f6-40af-b435-aaaaaaaaaaaa X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-rms-persistedconsumerorg: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: CH0P223MB0380 Message-ID-Hash: BFNCCJ7JAUMYHIGID4XQFITGJKTZYZ6W X-Message-ID-Hash: BFNCCJ7JAUMYHIGID4XQFITGJKTZYZ6W X-MailFrom: adamsobieski@hotmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.9rc6 Precedence: list Subject: =?utf-8?q?=5BSml=5D_Structured_Email_and_AI_Agents?= List-Id: Structured Email Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: --_000_DS4PPF69F41B22E72C08B1885D3E7B1571DC53EADS4PPF69F41B22E_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable IETF SML WG, People could create structured emails by configuring their email applicatio= ns (out-of-office or on-vacation automated replies) or by simply dragging-a= nd-dropping or pasting data into their email-authoring applications. Additi= onally, software systems, e.g., people's AI assistants, could create, send,= and receive structured emails while performing tasks. Example Use Case 1: A person or a mailing-list administrator wants to send = a structured email, e.g., calendar event update, to contacts' AI agents. Re= cipient AI agents, after determining that this email was from a known conta= ct, and was not a spam message, could notify their end-users of the calenda= r event update and ask them if they wanted to integrate the update into the= ir calendars and schedules, asking at times convenient, between work tasks. Example Use Case 2: More generally, a person's AI agent, while performing a= task, wants to send a structured email to an AI agent of one of that perso= n's contacts. It occurs that AI agents could have their own email addresses both for send= ing and receiving email messages. In these regards, it could be useful to b= e able to simply ascertain an AI agent's email address given a person's ema= il address. Similarly, it would be useful to be able to simply ascertain a = person's end-user's email address given their AI assistant's email address. For an example of such a simple bidirectional procedure, a special characte= r, "/", could allow appending "ai" to an existing email address to signify = that the recipient is intended to be the person's AI assistant agent. That is, for a contact: bob.smith@company.com , one could send a message to= their AI assistant by using: bob.smith/ai@company.com . This particular syntax pattern could be extended to allow "subdirectories".= For example: bob.smith/ai/calendar@company.com . Note that bob.smith/ai/*@company.com could, for all valid "subdirectory pat= hs", be routed to the same inbox of an AI assistant which might, optionally= , use any provided "subdirectory path" as a type of context hint, to organi= ze received messages into folders, and/or to raise contextual events for su= bscribed software event handlers. There may also be other syntax possibilities to consider (see also: https:/= /www.jochentopf.com/email/chars.html). Alternatively, one or more new email header fields could be used to signal = that a structured email message was from a sender's AI agent and/or intende= d for a recipient's AI agent. From: alice.jones@company.com From-Agent: assistant To: bob.smith@company.com To-Agent: assistant To-Agent-Task-Hint: calendar In this approach, a structured email message would be sent to bob.smith@com= pany.com and the new special email headers would be used to indicate that i= t was from an AI agent of Alice Jones and intended for an AI agent of Bob S= mith. This structured email message could, then, be automatically organized= into a secondary inbox folder and marked as read when processed by the rec= ipient's AI assistant agent, this processing potentially making use of both= natural language and structured data content. Thank you. Any thoughts on these ideas and considered approaches? Best regards, Adam Sobieski --_000_DS4PPF69F41B22E72C08B1885D3E7B1571DC53EADS4PPF69F41B22E_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
IETF SML WG,


People could create structured emails by configuring their email applicatio= ns (out-of-office or on-vacation automated replies) or by simply dragging-a= nd-dropping or pasting data into their email-authoring applications. Additi= onally, software systems, e.g., people's AI assistants, could create, send, and receive structured emails = while performing tasks.

Example Use Case 1: A person or a mailing-list administrator wants t= o send a structured email, e.g., calendar event update, to contacts' AI age= nts. Recipient AI agents, after determining that this email was from a know= n contact, and was not a spam message, could notify their end-users of the calendar event update and ask them if = they wanted to integrate the update into their calendars and schedules, ask= ing at times convenient, between work tasks.

Example Use Case 2: More generally, a person's AI agent, while perfo= rming a task, wants to send a structured email to an AI agent of one of tha= t person's contacts.


It occurs that AI agents could have their own email addresses both for send= ing and receiving email messages. In these regards, it could be useful to b= e able to simply ascertain an AI agent's email address given a person's ema= il address. Similarly, it would be useful to be able to simply ascertain a person's end-user's email addre= ss given their AI assistant's email address.

For an example of such a simple bidirectional procedure, a special characte= r, "/= ", could allow appending "ai" to an existing email addre= ss to signify that the recipient is intended to be the person's AI assistant = agent.

That is, for a contact: bob.smith@company.com , one could send a message = to their AI assistant by using: bob.smith/= ai@company.com .

This particular syntax pattern could be extended to allow "subdirector= ies". For example: bob.smith/= ai/calendar@company.com .

Note that = bob.smith/ai/*@company.com could, for all valid "subdirect= ory paths", be routed to the same inbox of an AI assistant which might= , optionally, use any provided "subdirectory path" as a type of context hint, to organize received messages into folders, and/or to rai= se contextual events for subscribed software event handlers.

There may also be other syntax possibilities to consider (see also: https://www.jochentopf.com/email/chars.html).


Alternatively, one or more new email header fields could be used to signal = that a structured email message was from a sender's AI agent and/or intende= d for a recipient's AI agent.

From: alice.jones@company.com
From-Agent: assistant
To: bob.smith@company.com
To-Agent: assistant
To-Agent-Task-Hint: calendar

In this approach, a structured email message would be sent to bob.smith@company.com and the new special email headers would b= e used to indicate that it was from an AI agent of Alice Jones and intended= for an AI agent of Bob Smith. This structured email message could, then, b= e automatically organized into a secondary inbox folder and marked as read when processed by the recipient's AI assis= tant agent, this processing potentially making use of both natural language= and structured data content.

Thank you. Any thoughts on these ideas and considered approaches?


Best regards,
Adam Sobieski

--_000_DS4PPF69F41B22E72C08B1885D3E7B1571DC53EADS4PPF69F41B22E_--