The real power struggle in agentic commerce isn’t building the smartest AI agents; it's governing them - Tearsheet

The real power struggle in agentic commerce isn’t building the smartest AI agents; it's governing them – Tearsheet

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The financial services industry is obsessed with what AI agents can do. Can they search? Can they reason? Can they negotiate? Can they shop?

The answers are arriving faster than anyone expected. Agents can already browse websites, compare products, fill carts, and increasingly complete transactions. Every few weeks, a new demo appears showing an AI assistant navigating the web with fewer clicks and more autonomy than before.

But inside one of the world’s largest payments businesses, a new question has emerged. What happens after the agent becomes capable?

That is where Michael Lozanoff, Global Head of Merchant Services at J.P. Morgan Payments, believes the real work is happening. “The capability question is largely being solved,” he says. “Models are getting smarter, and the ability to browse and compare items is maturing. But capability without governance is the next challenge.”

While much of Silicon Valley is racing to build smarter agents, J.P. Morgan Payments is addressing the trust, identity, and governance infrastructure needed to manage autonomous agents.