BUSINESS NEWS - Payment networks, browser makers and AI companies are racing to shape the future of agentic commerce - a model in which artificial intelligence can search, compare and purchase products on behalf of consumers.
But while the technology is advancing rapidly, Specno says fundamental questions around trust, verification, fraud and liability remain largely unresolved.
“Hey agent, find me the cheapest one”
Specno expects the biggest change to be a shift from browsing to delegating.
Instead of searching websites and apps themselves, consumers could simply tell an AI agent what they want: find the cheapest kettle, match blinds to a photograph or furnish a room within a set budget.
The agent would then search, compare options and potentially complete the purchase without the consumer ever visiting a retailer’s website.
“The interface of the future isn’t a search bar. It’s a conversation,” said Joshua Harvey, CEO of Specno.
“People are going to stop browsing and start delegating. They’ll tell their agent what they want, show it a photo, give it a budget, and expect it to come back with the right thing already found or bought.
“That’s a different relationship between a brand and a customer, and most retailers haven’t touched their systems to account for it.”
SEO is being rewritten for machines
As shopping shifts towards AI agents, retailers will need to become discoverable not only to consumers, but also to machines.
That means having structured, machine-readable product information, real-time pricing feeds and content that can be assessed by an AI agent working through hundreds of options in seconds.
Traditional search-engine optimisation may no longer be enough. A retailer that ranks highly for human searches could still be overlooked by an AI agent using different criteria to evaluate products.
Specno expects a new discipline - potentially described as agentic SEO or answer-engine optimisation - to become increasingly important as AI-driven commerce develops.
Who is liable when an agent gets it wrong?
The bigger challenge, however, may be establishing who is responsible when an autonomous shopping agent makes a mistake.
If an agent is tricked by a fraudulent online store and completes a purchase, who carries the liability? Is it the consumer, the agent developer, the payment provider or the platform that surfaced the listing?
“Right now, if someone gets scammed online, there’s a clear chain. You know who clicked the button and who authorised the payment,” Harvey said.
“Once an agent makes that call for you, the chain breaks. Did the agent fail to verify the site? Did the marketplace fail to flag it? Did the buyer even see what was purchased before it happened?
“Nobody has answered that, and it will matter a lot more once agents are transacting at scale, not just browsing.”
Specno believes companies that build verification, fraud detection and liability controls into their products from the outset will be better positioned as agentic commerce moves into the mainstream.
“This isn’t a problem you solve with a bigger team,” Harvey said.
“It’s a problem you solve with the right specialist who holds the technical, commercial and regulatory picture at once, moving fast enough to build the trust layer before the fraud does.
“That’s the model we’ve built Specno around, and it’s exactly the kind of build this category needs right now.”
Building the trust layer
Specno says it is already working with retailers and product teams preparing for the shift towards agent-led commerce.
Its work includes structuring product data for AI discovery, developing conversational and visual-search experiences, and building verification and trust mechanisms designed to allow AI agents to transact more safely.
As autonomous shopping develops, the key question may therefore be less about whether AI can buy on our behalf - and more about whether consumers can trust it when it does.
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