diff --git a/.changelog/5259.added b/.changelog/5259.added
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..463de58085d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/5259.added
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+`opentelemetry-sdk`: add `ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector` for populating `service.instance.id`
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/pyproject.toml b/opentelemetry-sdk/pyproject.toml
index e367cf45a66..4970dcfab6c 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/pyproject.toml
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/pyproject.toml
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ otel = "opentelemetry.sdk.resources:OTELResourceDetector"
 process = "opentelemetry.sdk.resources:ProcessResourceDetector"
 os = "opentelemetry.sdk.resources:OsResourceDetector"
 host = "opentelemetry.sdk.resources:_HostResourceDetector"
+service_instance = "opentelemetry.sdk.resources:ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector"
 
 [project.urls]
 Homepage = "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/tree/main/opentelemetry-sdk"
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/resources/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/resources/__init__.py
index c5593909033..b1d244fa1a5 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/resources/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/resources/__init__.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 import socket
 import sys
 import typing
+import uuid
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 from json import dumps
 from os import environ
@@ -462,6 +463,21 @@ def detect(self) -> "Resource":
         )
 
 
+class ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector(ResourceDetector):
+    """Detects service.instance.id as a random UUID v4.
+
+    Per the OpenTelemetry specification, SDKs SHOULD generate a random v1/v4
+    UUID for service.instance.id to uniquely identify each service instance.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, raise_on_error: bool = False) -> None:
+        super().__init__(raise_on_error)
+        self._instance_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
+
+    def detect(self) -> "Resource":
+        return Resource({SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID: self._instance_id})
+
+
 def _build_resource_detectors() -> list["ResourceDetector"]:
     """Returns the ordered list of resource detectors to use for Resource.create.
 
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
index 8c6ff460d7d..9ff1ace698d 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
     PROCESS_RUNTIME_DESCRIPTION,
     PROCESS_RUNTIME_NAME,
     PROCESS_RUNTIME_VERSION,
+    SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID,
     SERVICE_NAME,
     TELEMETRY_SDK_LANGUAGE,
     TELEMETRY_SDK_NAME,
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@
     ProcessResourceDetector,
     Resource,
     ResourceDetector,
+    ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector,
     _HostResourceDetector,
     get_aggregated_resources,
 )
@@ -912,3 +914,40 @@ def test_resource_detector_entry_points_tolerate_missing_detector(self):
             resource.attributes["telemetry.sdk.language"], "python"
         )
         self.assertIn(HOST_NAME, resource.attributes)
+
+
+class TestServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_detect_value_is_valid_uuid4(self):
+        detector = ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector()
+        value = detector.detect().attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID]
+        parsed = uuid.UUID(value)
+        self.assertEqual(parsed.version, 4)
+
+    def test_detect_stable_within_instance(self):
+        detector = ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector()
+        id1 = detector.detect().attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID]
+        id2 = detector.detect().attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID]
+        self.assertEqual(id1, id2)
+
+    def test_detect_unique_across_instances(self):
+        id1 = (
+            ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector()
+            .detect()
+            .attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID]
+        )
+        id2 = (
+            ServiceInstanceIdResourceDetector()
+            .detect()
+            .attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID]
+        )
+        self.assertNotEqual(id1, id2)
+
+    @patch.dict(
+        environ,
+        {OTEL_EXPERIMENTAL_RESOURCE_DETECTORS: "service_instance"},
+        clear=True,
+    )
+    def test_resource_detector_entry_points_service_instance(self):
+        resource = Resource.create()
+        self.assertIn(SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID, resource.attributes)
+        uuid.UUID(resource.attributes[SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID])