*

Agentic AI to eliminate predatory business models, Levchin

says

*

BNPL market grew 9.9% in 2024, Adobe Analytics reports

*

Composable solutions key for retail success in AI era,

Levchin

argues

By Hannah Lang

Nov 19 (Reuters) -

Max Levchin, CEO and co-founder of Affirm, which offers buy

now, pay later plans, said artificial intelligence is poised to

transform shopping by taking over human tasks and making

financial products more transparent.

AI agents will soon be able to instantly weed out products

with prohibitively high interest rates or late fees, forcing

businesses to rethink fee structures, Levchin said at the

Reuters Momentum AI Finance conference in New York on Tuesday.

"I think we're headed for a future where we have a profound

elimination, for lack of a better term, of business models that

are designed to prey on stupidity, or lack of attention ...

because it's all going to get done by the bots," he said.

Agentic AI needs minimal human intervention to make

decisions and is widely considered the next iteration of

generative AI. AI agents will soon shop and pay on behalf of

consumers, and recommend the best financial products to

accommodate their purchases, Levchin predicted.

"My dumb, young, naive self in college signing up for a

deferred interest credit card would have never known to read the

fine print," said Levchin, a PayPal co-founder.

"But even if I did, I would have been lost in the morass

within seconds because it's deliberately obscure. AI does not

have a problem with that. It can read the finest of prints, it

will find the 'gotcha.'"

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers like Affirm and

Klarna ( KLAR ) offer loans that shoppers repay in installments

spread over as many as 36 months, although the most common plan

has four payments.

BNPL exploded in popularity as the COVID-19 pandemic forced more

shoppers online and has grown rapidly, driving $82.4 billion in

online spending in 2024, up 9.9% from 2023, according to Adobe

Analytics.

Levchin outlined Affirm's approach to AI in an August letter to

shareholders, arguing that the company was "built for this,"

with products that can be integrated into chatbots, internet

browsers and digital wallets.

The shift toward agentic shopping will create winners and

losers across retail and payments, with companies that embrace

composable, adaptive solutions positioned to thrive, he added.

Among other large companies pivoting towards autonomous AI,

Walmart unveiled plans in July to roll out a suite of AI-powered

"super agents" to help customers and streamline operations. The

retailer is betting on AI to drive its e-commerce growth, aiming

for online sales to account for 50% of its total sales within

five years, Walmart has said.