By Barnard Crespi | May 13, 2026
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in an executive discussion hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Skills Bridge program, and Northeastern University Toronto on a topic that I believe will fundamentally reshape commerce over the next decade: the rise of autonomous buyers.
The session brought together leaders from technology, payments, retail, and digital commerce to discuss what happens when AI systems begin participating directly in purchasing decisions and financial transactions. While much of the public conversation around artificial intelligence remains focused on productivity tools and content generation, the more significant shift may be happening quietly inside commerce infrastructure itself.
In addition to myself, the discussion participants also included Joyce Lafleur Leung from Microsoft, Chrissy Munroe from Loblaw Digital, Zamir Rahemtulla from Interac, and Tom Pawelkiewicz from Mastercard.
One of the points I emphasized during the panel was that most organizations still operate payment environments designed entirely around human interaction. Their systems assume a person is manually clicking, approving, authenticating, and completing a transaction.
But that assumption is beginning to change.
AI agents are rapidly evolving from assistants into participants. In the not too distant future, intelligent systems may compare vendors, negotiate pricing, select services, initiate payments, and manage recurring commercial decisions on behalf of businesses and consumers alike.
That shift creates an entirely new set of operational and governance questions.
How do businesses verify intent when a transaction originates from an AI agent rather than a person? How do payment systems establish trust between autonomous systems? What infrastructure is required to securely support machine-to-machine commerce without introducing new fraud, compliance, and liability risks?
These are not futuristic concepts anymore. The industry is already moving in this direction.
An important perspective that emerged from the discussion is that businesses now need to begin understanding their own agentic commerce readiness.
Many organizations have invested heavily in payment technologies, portals, gateways, and customer-facing digital experiences. Individually, those systems may function well. But agentic commerce introduces a different challenge altogether: Can those systems can operate cohesively in an environment where intelligent agents are expected to navigate transactions end to end?
That readiness extends beyond technology. It includes trust models, payment orchestration, identity verification, operational workflows, governance structures, fraud controls, and compliance frameworks.
What became clear during the discussion is that many organizations are not fully prepared for this transition. Most have accumulated payment tools and integrations over time, but very few have intentionally designed infrastructure for autonomous commerce.
In my view, the businesses that adapt early will not simply digitize payments. They will redesign how money flows through their organization. And in the next phase of commerce, that distinction may become a significant competitive advantage.
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