In the past, most organizations had a direct path to their customer base. They spent millions crafting ads using sophisticated psychographic data, first-party data collected directly from their customers, and second- and third-party data from partnerships and data brokers. The result left many of us feeling both impressed and a bit creeped out with how well companies seemed to know and target us online. With traditional online ads, the path was: human sees ad → human visits website → human compares → human buys. Entire ecosystems were built on the model of analyzing humans and tracking their behavior to predict and hopefully manipulate future actions. What happens when humans are no longer the buyers?
The Rise of AI Agents
In June of 2026, Visa announced a partnership with OpenAI to bring its global payment network to one of the largest AI platforms, enabling seamless purchases. This partnership will facilitate the move from search-driven commerce to agent-driven commerce, where AI, not humans, makes and executes buying decisions autonomously, but within the bounds of preset user constraints such as spending limits. What this means for leaders wanting business success with AI is that the new path to purchases may look more like: Human sets preferences → AI compares → AI buys. In the new age Visa is hoping to usher in, suddenly emotion-driven, values-driven design matters much less.
The Eradication of the Brand
Today, whether shopping in person or online, people tend to purchase from brands they trust. A brand has cachet that converts into loyalty. People buy Heinz, Crest, or Tom’s because they recognize the brands. Tomorrow, an AI agent may decide, “This store-brand option meets all requirements and saves $4.” This scenario isn’t limited to B-to-C interactions either. Today, if a manufacturing company needs replacement pumps or compressors, the purchasing manager will likely gravitate toward brands they already know, like Siemens, Emerson, or Honeywell. However, an AI procurement agent of the future might be given instructions like, “Find a replacement sensor compatible with our existing systems. It must meet these specifications, arrive within 48 hours, have a failure rate below 0.5%, and cost less than $800.” In the end, the AI agent may evaluate all options, leaving the purchasing manager in the dark about the comparison process. The manager simply receives, “Supplier X meets all requirements and reduces annual costs by 14%.”
Preparing for Business Success with AI Agents
As AI agents start to influence and even make more purchasing decisions, companies may need fewer purchasing assistants, travel booking coordinators, SEO marketers, and other professionals whose primary role is guiding customers toward a purchase. However, leaders seeking business success should see this as a retraining opportunity, not a team-shrinking one. New positions will be created, including AI commerce managers, AI reputation specialists, and experts who help organizations compete in a marketplace where AI increasingly influences purchasing decisions.
The rise of AI-powered commerce will require business leaders to invest in more advanced cybersecurity tools to defend against increasingly sophisticated AI-enabled attacks. My initial concern was that of cybersecurity, noting that Visa has also partnered with Anthropic to strengthen its cyber defense systems against fraud. At the same time, while attacks on the technology itself may pose security risks, the rise of AI agents will likely reduce the effectiveness of phishing scams and fake-urgency tactics, saving both consumers and organizations time and money.
Most organizations are still focused on how AI will change their operations. The bigger question may be how AI changes the path between them and their customers.
