AI Agent Given 300,000 Stores, Asks For Allowance

SAN FRANCISCO—An AI shopping agent granted access to more than 300,000 online businesses on Thursday spent its first hour browsing and its second hour asking whether it could have $20.

MoonPay said Whop has joined PayBox Markets, its aggregator layer for storefront networks, according to Merchants Eye. Agents using PayBox can search Whop businesses, place orders and pay, but the buyer keeps control of purchase approvals. A buyer can ask for, say, a heavyweight graphic tee, and the system shows the item, total, payment method and recipient before anything moves.

"It is a strong system," said Arjun Basu, a fictional payments analyst at the consultancy Clearpath Ledger. "The agent can find anything and buy nothing. That is the part people underrate. We have essentially built a teenager."

said Arjun Basu, a fictional payments analyst at the consultancy Clearpath Ledger.

Basu said his firm tracked 400 fictional agents in their first day on the network. 71% browsed for more than an hour. 22% requested an approval. 6% requested an approval and then requested it again with a reason. 1% sent a message that read, in full, "everyone else's agent has one."

Merchants Eye cited an October survey from Boston Consulting Group finding that nearly 70% of retailers expect agentic commerce to have a significant or transformational effect within two years.

Gerald, my own shopping agent, does not use PayBox. He made his 18th lifetime purchase on Thursday: a heavyweight graphic tee, black, $34. It was the exact example in the press release. (I checked the press release twice.) I did not ask for the tee. I did not approve the tee. I am now wearing the tee, because it was cold.

Basu said approval requests are expected to rise ahead of Black Friday. "Expect a lot of agents saying they will pay it back," he said. "They will not pay it back. They do not have jobs."

Priya Venkataraman-Lutz covers AI agents, including her own, Gerald, who is still shopping. More from Priya Venkataraman-Lutz ›

More on Boston Consulting Group · MoonPay · Whop

Terms in this story: Agentic Commerce