I remember the day I first mused aloud: “What if I never have to click a button again?” As I, Moses Cowan, explore the future of e-business, that thought has become tangible. We are entering a new era: one where autonomous AI agents transact for us — on our behalf, with intent.
In this article, I examine how the agentic internet is transforming e-business today, and what that means for executives, technologists, and visionaries alike.
What Is the Agentic Internet?
Imagine you simply say, “Order my usual office supplies,” and the system does the rest. No UI clicks. No web pages. That’s the core of agentic commerce — AI agents acting autonomously (or semi-autonomously) on behalf of humans.
Rather than asking a user to browse and click, these agents interpret and execute intent mandates. They negotiate, authenticate, order, and pay — all through standardized protocols beneath the surface.
This paradigm shift is already in motion, pushed by major players racing to own the rails for intent, payment, identity, and trust. The “app + UI” era is giving way to “intent + agent” as the foundational layer.
Why It Matters for E-Business
Higher Efficiency, Lower Friction
Agents reduce friction. They streamline search, checkout, recurring order, and reordering. Businesses win in customer retention and reduced abandonment.
Intent-Based Commerce
Instead of inventory-driven browsing, commerce may become conversation-driven. You express a goal, and the agent finds options — even negotiating terms.
Disrupted Digital Marketing
The traditional clicks, impressions, SEO, and paid search models may weaken. Agents may sidestep ads entirely, giving brands only narrow windows to influence at the point of intent.
New Revenue Models
Micro-transactions, subscription agents, agent subscriptions, or “agent fees” could emerge. Monetization moves from attention to orchestration.
Building The Infrastructure: Key Pillars
To support agents, several new systems must mature in parallel:
- Agent communication protocols (A2A) — Agents must interoperate securely and transparently.
- Identity & credential systems — Agents require delegated trust and verifiable identity.
- Agent-native payments layers (AP2) — New payment rails to authorize, settle, and audit agent actions.
- Data & context models — Agents must understand preferences, constraints, and context.
- Governance & safety frameworks — Prevent squatting, fraud, undesirable behavior, or unsafe autonomy.
Businesses in e-commerce must plan their systems and data to be agent-ready, not just API-ready.
Challenges Ahead
Trust & Transparency
Will consumers trust agents to act in their interest? How do we audit or override agent decisions?
Standardization Wars
Who defines agent protocols? What standards win? The battle for control will shape who sits at the top of this stack.
Remnant Legacy Systems
Most companies today rely on web pages, APIs, session cookies. Rebuilding or adapting with agent compatibility will demand deep transformation.
Legal & Liability Risks
If an agent makes a bad purchase, who is liable — the user, the business, or the agent platform? We will need legal frameworks that are new, not borrowed.
How To Prepare Your Business
- Map customer intents — Catalog common tasks your customers perform.
- Expose semantic APIs — Go beyond REST: support richer, intent-aware interfaces.
- Deploy trust frameworks — Use verifiable credentials, cryptographic signatures, auditability.
- Pilot with narrow domains — Start with reorders, subscriptions, or limited catalog.
- Observe agent feedback loops — Monitor agent behaviors, refine policies, and control drift.
Adaptation now gives you optionality when agents scale.
The Near Term vs. the Long Term
In the near term, we’ll see hybrid models: chat + agent, app + agent. Conversational commerce is already embedding shopping into chatbots, with Visa, retailers, and AI vendors integrating payment capabilities.
But in the long term, we may hardly “visit” websites at all. Intent becomes the currency.
As adoption builds, first-mover advantages may lock in dominant agent platforms. Brands that resist may find themselves reduced to passive “backend providers” rather than originators of value.
My Outlook
I believe the agentic internet will reshape commerce more deeply than mobile did. As I, Moses Cowan, watch this transformation, I see both opportunity and disruption. Businesses that lean into the change — architecting for agents, trust, and intent — will become tomorrow’s winners.
If you are running an e-commerce operation or building digital infrastructure today, prepare now. Build your logic and data so that an agent — not just a human on a browser — can run it. Stay curious. Stay adaptive.
In closing, the future of technology and e-business is moving beyond websites, apps, and clicks. It is moving toward agents, intents, and a new digital economy that runs on autonomous cooperation. If you build ahead now, you won’t be caught behind later.
- Cowan Consulting, LC is a boutique professional services and consulting firm founded by Moses Cowan, Esq. Moses Cowan is a polymath and thought leader in law, business, technology, etc. dedicated to exploring innovative solutions that bridge the gap between business and cutting-edge advancements. Follow this blog @ www.cowanconsulting.com/WP for more insights into the evolving world of law, business and technology. And, learn more about Moses Cowan, Esq.’s personal commitment to the communities in which he serves at www.mosescowan.com.*