A Comprehensive Survey on AI Agents and Cryptography

Abstract

AI agents now coordinate cryptographic tasks such as key management, protocol negotiation, zero-knowledge verification, and anomaly response across heterogeneous systems. Despite rapid progress, practical deployments still face gaps in protocol interoperability, verifiable privacy, and post-quantum readiness that hinder trustworthy adoption. This survey systematizes the field across cryptanalysis, cryptographic design, and secure multi-agent coordination, structuring the discussion around protocol families (MCP, A2A, ACP, ANP) and core primitives (MPC, HE, ZKP, PQC). Contributions include a two-dimensional taxonomy, a transparent survey methodology, a state-of-the-art comparison using shared criteria (interpretability, robustness, scalability, PQC readiness, proof overhead), an explicit limitations analysis, and practice-oriented guidance for engineering and governance. The synthesis clarifies trade-offs and provides a deployment roadmap for agentic cryptography in IoT, finance, and identity systems.