Agentic Commerce Is Coming, but Zac Cohen Says the Trust Layer Is Not Ready

⦿ Executive Snapshot

• What: Agentic commerce is beginning to be implemented in live use, highlighting the need for a strong trust framework in the payment industry.
• Who: Zac Cohen, Chief Product Officer at Trulioo, is a key voice in this discussion, emphasizing the industry's challenges with AI agents.
• Why it matters: The evolution of agentic commerce necessitates changes in how financial institutions verify transactions and manage fraud, potentially reshaping the payment landscape.

⦿ Key Developments

• Zac Cohen states, "The industry is ready, but the trust framework isn’t."
• The introduction of Know Your Agent (KYA) as a new layer of verification around AI agents in transactions.
• Financial institutions are beginning to see the need for enhanced governance frameworks before scaling agentic commerce.
• Agentic commerce is changing the dynamics of payment relationships by bringing decisions closer to the search and selection process.
• Regulators are starting to focus on agentic AI, but there remains a gap between policy and market implementation.

⦿ Strategic Context

• The rise of AI in commerce is leading to significant shifts in consumer behavior and transaction processes, increasing the importance of governance and trust.
• Traditional frameworks like Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) are evolving to include AI agents, which complicates the verification process.

⦿ Strategic Implications

• Immediate implications include the need for financial institutions to adapt their fraud detection and governance processes to accommodate AI agents.
• Long-term, the successful integration of agentic commerce could lead to new revenue streams but also poses risks of disintermediation for slower-moving firms.

⦿ Risks & Constraints

• Potential risks include the difficulty in verifying the authority of AI agents, which could lead to increased fraud opportunities.
• The evolving regulatory landscape may not keep pace with the rapid advancements in agentic AI technology, creating compliance challenges for institutions.

⦿ Watchlist / Forward Signals

• Firms should monitor developments in regulatory frameworks around agentic commerce, particularly in regions like Singapore.
• The adoption rate of agentic commerce by consumers will be a critical indicator of its success and the effectiveness of new governance systems.