Increasing Human Agency

AI systems should be built to increase our own agency and productivity shifting our attention toward the things that matter to us.

Historically, technology has worked well. The tools we have today have transformed how we store & access information, communicate, and operate. But many real-world processes still leave us with unnecessary friction.

The Remaining Friction in the Physical World

Today, if we want to reserve something, book something, or coordinate across multiple services, we often still have to search, compare, call, email, wait for responses, and manage the logistics, despite, already know what we want.

The emergence of agentic systems introduces the possibility of changing this.

Why Current Agent Workflows Do Not Scale

Agents are useful but for some use cases, are currently forced to use methods that were originally designed for humans to accomplish (i.e., computer use, browser automation, etc.). While these methods work well for certain use cases, such as software development, testing, and interacting with existing applications, they fall short when it comes to coordinating our daily lives at scale.

The reason is that agentic systems are still operating through human-oriented layers and, depending on the context: requiring separate logins, navigating inconsistent interfaces, processing screenshots, data bleeding, etc.

A lot of our time is consumed by administrative work that for some, should not require human attention.

The web browser was built for humans to navigate the internet because we have eyes and needed a way to see whatever we're navigating. But agents operating through the same interface: clicking websites, filling forms, waiting on pages, does not scale. If AI systems are going to operate on our behalf, they need a fundamentally different layer of access to the world.

The Need for Real-World Intelligence Infrastructure

With the emergence of agentic systems, the need for real-time, accurate, and structured data becomes increasingly important. Agents need to understand what exists, what is available, who can provide it, and how transactions can happen as quickly, and, as reliably as possible. A network built around real-time availability, capabilities, and transactions requires careful consideration around trust, privacy, security, accountability, and misuse(we will discuss these risks throughout this paper).

At the same time, if this ecosystem is built correctly, it has the potential to create significant benefits for consumers, merchants, service providers, and technology companies by reducing friction, improving access, and enabling a more efficient way for people and businesses to interact.

What Is Agentic Local Commerce Infrastructure?

This Introduction to Agentic Local Commerce Infrastructure explores the foundation needed for AI agents to interact with the real world:

• Discover local services and capabilities

• Understand real-time availability

• Coordinate with businesses and service providers

• Complete transactions securely

• Build trust between humans, businesses, and autonomous systems
  
  We will also cover:

• What Local Commerce means

• What "real-world services" mean

• The risks associated with agents interacting in the real world: in the context of local commerce.

• Why agentic local commerce cannot be permissionless

Why Agentic Commerce Cannot Be Permissionless

Despite the benefits of frictionless search, planning, coordination, and execution, the risks are very real. Unlike information retrieval, real-world actions carry economic, legal, and physical consequences. As a result, an agentic commerce infrastructure cannot be built around permissionless action alone. It requires mechanisms for identity, authorization, trust, accountability, and governance to protect consumers, businesses, and service providers. Once AI systems are able to spend money, book appointments, hire providers, access homes, or coordinate services on behalf of people, the consequences of mistakes, misuse, or malicious behavior increase dramatically.

Action carries consequences that information does not.

The Future of Local Commerce

Agentic commerce, is promising but retail and e commerce shopping is only one layer. The reality is local commerce(the physical services we receive in person from other humans) is a whole other layer. This whitepaper examines the emergence of local agentic commerce where AI agents become the interface between people and the physical economy. Potentially between AI agents transacting with humans for things they cannot do.

From booking appointments to coordinating services, managing logistics, and eventually orchestrating human and robotic labor.

[Whitepaper coming soon]