Your Agent Just Authorized What?! — Jay Mok & Ben Coumes, Paypal
Source
AI Engineer
Author
AI Engineer
Date
Terms in this piece · Glossary
token — The chunk of text a model reads and writes in — roughly three-quarters of a word — and the unit AI usage is billed in.
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
Why it matters
AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → authorization comes down to three questions: did the human consent, is this in scope now, and can you prove it later. Pre-authorization tokenThe chunk of text a model reads and writes in — roughly three-quarters of a word — and the unit AI usage is billed in.Full definition → answer them for purchases the agent has not yet found.
videoAgent Spending Without Controls — Rodrigo Coelho & Pranav Maheshwari, Edge & Node
videoBeyond the Lethal Trifecta: Agentic Commerce on the Open Internet — David Levine, Kiduna Club
videox402 isn’t good (yet) — Jan Curn, Apify
videoThe End of the Static Screen: Architecting Intent-Driven UX — Gus Iwanaga, commercetools
