Binding Verified Digital Identity Credentials to Large Language Model Sessions: A Framework for Trust-Aware AI

Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are being adopted across critical sectors including healthcare, government services, financial services, and education. Yet these systems operate without any verified understanding of who is interacting with them. Identity is selfdeclared, guardrails exist only at the prompt layer, and every session begins from zero. This paper proposes a novel architectural framework, the Verified Credential Session Binding (VCSB) Protocol, for cryptographically binding verified digital identity credentials to LLM inference sessions. Drawing on established standards including W3C Verifiable Credentials, OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance (OID4VCI), the Open Standards Identity API (OSIA), and zero-knowledge proof primitives, the framework enables attribute-based policy enforcement upstream of the model without compromising user privacy. The paper presents the theoretical foundation, a concrete technical specification, a governance model for national deployment, and an illustrative implementation grounded in Rwanda's E-Ndangamuntu Single Digital Identity system. The proposed protocol addresses a fundamental gap in responsible AI deployment and positions national digital identity infrastructure as a critical enabler of trustworthy AI governance.