When AI
acts in
your name
AI agents are booking trips, applying for coverage, and paying bills for the people they serve. Before your business accepts an agent's request, you need to know who approved it, what they approved, and how you'd defend the decision later.
The question that changes
The question is no longer “How do we let agents transact?”
It's “What would let us accept an agent's request and defend that decision later?” Access, recognition, and a clean checkout flow don't answer it. Trusted identity, verifiable intent, and shared rules do.
Three gaps agents open up
Access isn't permission
An agent can have access to your account without permission to make a particular commitment.
Recognition isn't authorization
A business can recognize the agent without knowing who authorized its request.
Approval isn't safety
A person can authorize a transaction without realizing the business on the other end is an impostor.
Closing these gaps takes more than a credential. It takes a network that tells everyone what to check, what evidence to keep, and what happens when something goes wrong.
Eight short reads. One case for trust.
Each article answers a question the one before it leaves open. Read them in order to follow the full argument, or jump to the problem in front of you today.
Agents aren't just checking out. They're filing applications, booking travel, and managing bills. Here's what that means for how customers reach you.
“When an agent submits a request, your business is accepting instructions from software on behalf of someone who isn't there.”
Why the stakes go past checkoutNext: You know the agent. Did its owner approve this?
Recognizing a trusted agent tells you what made the request. It doesn't tell you whether the person behind it said yes.
“Confidence in the agent is not the same as evidence of the owner's approval.”
Separate the agent from the approvalNext: Which digital identities should your business accept?
Not every credential deserves your reliance. Three questions help you decide which ones map to your obligations.
“When a decision is challenged, you need to show your reasoning, not just your confidence.”
Ask the three acceptance questionsNext: The authorization gap: your agent, whose permission?
Paper signatures once proved an agreement. Agentic workflows need a signed record that travels with the request.
“Permission has to travel with the request, in a record the business can verify and keep.”
See what the record carriesNext: Your agent paid. Now you say, "It wasn't me."
Evidence only helps if everyone knows who checks it, who handles the dispute, and who is responsible.
“In agentic commerce, liability starts the moment an agent acts on someone's behalf.”
Why credentials need rulesNext: Card not present. Person not present.
Online payments solved for a missing card. Agentic payments also have to solve for a missing person.
“A token answers 'is this credential valid for this agent?' It doesn't answer 'did this person authorize this purchase?'”
What payments infrastructure needs to carryNext: Your agent can get scammed, too.
A fake invoice can fool an agent that follows instructions perfectly. Trust has to run in both directions.
“Consumer identity alone protects the business but leaves the owner exposed, and an exposed owner won't delegate much.”
Verify the other sideNext: Your AI has agency. Your identity needs a rail.
Verified people, verified businesses, signed approvals, and shared rules, working as one network.
“Agents can already act. What they lack is a rail that carries who approved the action and who is responsible for checking it.”
See the full pictureNext: Meet us at Money20/20
“Can you prove the owner wanted this, and explain why you accepted it?”
Every article in this series comes back to that one question.
Meet us at Money20/20
Bring us a workflow. Leave with a map.
Meet Proof at Money20/20. Bring one agentic workflow from your business, like a payment, an application, or an account change. Together we'll map the parties, the approval record, what you need to accept the request, and who is responsible when something goes wrong.
Tell us about one agentic workflow and a Proof representative will follow up to set a time.
Booth #5069 · October 18–21, 2026 · Las Vegas