Why AI Agents Can Produce But Can't Transact — The Missing Layer Holding Back the Agent Economy
Why AI Agents Can Produce But Can’t Transact — The Missing Layer Holding Back the Agent Economy TL;DR AI agents have gotten remarkably good at doing work — writing code, drafting documents, researching topics, and executing multi-step tasks. But there’s a fundamental wall they keep hitting: they can’t actually buy or sell anything. The infrastructure that underlies modern commerce — payment APIs, e-signature platforms, legal contracts — was built for humans, not autonomous software. Until that changes, AI agents will remain capable producers stuck in an economy they can’t participate in. ...