The Trust Mandate: Navigating Commerce in the Age of Agentic AI

What happens when artificial intelligence becomes more than an advisory tool by securely transacting on our behalf based on our preferences?

This was at the centre of a recent conversation between Erin Elofson, president of Mastercard in Canada and Jason Maghanoy, publisher of Maclean’s, where they answered this question. This conversation was rooted in a discussion about Canada’s economic outlook, the state of the Canadian consumer and the trends and technologies shaping the digital economy. 

But as Elofson noted, amidst the “intelligence revolution” in the agentic age, trust is foundational. As AI evolves from experimentation to accountable systems, the infrastructure behind digital transactions must be secure, transparent and interoperable, to strengthen Canada’s ability to lead in the next wave of commerce.

Mastercard has a front-row seat to the Canadian economy. From what you’re seeing right now, what’s trending with consumers?

Erin Elofson: It might be surprising to know that although Canadians are selective in how they’re spending their money right now, overall, the Canadian consumer has actually been relatively resilient. Canada is a country of many different stories and many different provinces, and at this moment, there are different regional realities, but in aggregate, consumer spending is actually up about 2 per cent year over year in February.

At the same time, uncertainty is keeping homebuyers heavily on the sidelines and that has a ripple effect. Furniture spending is relatively flat year over year; home improvement spending is relatively flat. This is after years of these categories exploding and consumers saying, “I want to invest in my home.” But large-scale events are having massively positive economic output. According to the Mastercard Economics Institute, the restaurant spending lift during the Blue Jays run was 27 per cent and hotel spending was up 45 per cent. The consumer is resilient but selective and people of all generations are prioritizing experiences over things.

Given the unpredictability of the world at large, what should Canadian business leaders be focused on right now to cut through the noise and make smart decisions?

EE: We’re witnessing the nascent stages of the agentic economy. 

Business leaders must be comfortable with uncertainty—it is the “new normal.” Agility is key, because things can change fast in this landscape. My advice is to be willing to experiment and have a proactive mindset to keep pace with the constant shifts. No one has all the answers right now, but to win, you need to find the use cases for technology that make sense for your organization. The only thing that won’t work is standing still due to the fear of failure.

So, what is the agentic economy, also known as agentic commerce—and how do we move from “point-and-click” to delegating transactions to an AI agent?

EE: It’s really about agency: allowing agentic AI to help manage shopping for you. People love using travel as an example. I always laugh to myself because travel is deeply personal and complex. Soon, you might be able to say to your AI agent: “When you find that hotel next week at the lowest price below this threshold, within this distance of the convention center, just book it for me.”

A simpler example is something like buying a raincoat. So, I go to a big e-commerce store or merchant and I’m still spending 20 minutes trying to figure out which raincoat I can get tomorrow. With agentic commerce I’ll be able to provide my agent with this instruction: “I need this raincoat for hot conditions that can arrive tomorrow, that’s below $40 because I’m only going to wear it a couple of times.” And then they are expected to shop for the raincoat for me. This whole concept of AI agents helping us execute on our lives is very exciting — and yes, we need to facilitate trust across the process. For Mastercard, that means ensuring in the future that the network can help securely process transactions initiated not just by people, but by AI agents acting on their behalf. While the technology and guardrails continue to develop, AI agents could do some of the hard work on our behalf within appropriate safeguards and within guidelines set by individuals.

As technology moves faster, trust often lags behind—and so does our ability to respond to fraud. How do we navigate this safely?

EE: Agentic AI is becoming a reality. In fact, the industry predicts that one in five transactions by 2030 will be done through agentic commerce. That’s the important thing for us all to acknowledge. However, fear is not helpful. We are entering a period of transformation, where AI acts as an enabler rather than a replacement.

Security has to be smarter. It should be built into everything we do, by design and within every product. We are prepared with the technology capabilities to do that, but it requires partnership across the industry. A little-known fact in Canada—and an amazing one—is that we have Mastercard’s Global Intelligence and Cyber Centre of Excellence in Vancouver, which is the centerpiece of our company’s security strategy. That centre plays a critical role in advancing Mastercard’s global fraud detection and identity verification capabilities, using AI defensively and in real time. There are tools and technologies to help make agentic commerce safe and seamless, but it requires a commitment from partners across the industry to build everything safely by design from the start. 

For business owners trying to build innovation into the DNA of their company, what’s the best way to start?

EE: It’s probably not a concise “three things” for everyone—we struggle with how to give people the guidance they need. But I really believe that agentic commerce, while it helps consumers, is also amazing for businesses, because they can be discoverable in entirely new ways. Most importantly, you have to figure out what the experimentation needs to be for your business. AI for the sake of AI is a solution in search of a problem. It’s about asking: How is AI going to bring a very specific, accretive revenue efficiency to my business? How is it going to make my customer experience better? 

If we think about it opportunistically, while being very responsible about ensuring we’re secure by default, by design, at the inception of all of this, we can position ourselves to be successful together, as Canadians.

Click here to learn more about agentic commerce.