OAuth was originally adopted because it solved a practical problem for developers. It reduced password sharing, simplified third-party authentication, and made integrations easier to manage. Over time, it became the default trust layer for modern SaaS applications, cloud platforms, developer tools, and AI systems. What changed is the role these tokens now play inside infrastructure. An OAuth token is no longer just an authentication artifact tied to a single application. In modern environments, especially across AI platforms and workflow automation systems, tokens inherit delegated permissions that extend across multiple services simultaneously. A single approved integration can gain access to repositories, internal documentation, messaging systems, cloud storage, customer data, and AI workflows without requiring repeated authentication. That shift matters because tokens now behave much more like infrastructure credentials than application credentials.…