Contractual Liability In Agentic Commerce: Key Considerations

Agentic commerce marks a structural shift in how payment transactions are initiated and executed. In this model, AI systems act on behalf of consumers to search, evaluate, and, in some cases, complete purchases with minimal human intervention. While the commercial appeal of this model is clear, it introduces some complexity around how liability should be understood and allocated across the participants in an agent-initiated payment transaction. Unlike traditional e-commerce, where responsibility can be traced directly from user to merchant through a relatively linear payment chain, agentic commerce introduces multiple decision-makers and intermediaries with each performing a distinct function. In this update, we highlight the emerging nature of contractual liability between key nodes within an agentic commerce transaction flow.