Infinicept Whitepaper · June 2026

Agentic AI is about to reshape payments. Your dispute frameworks weren't built for it.

A prescriptive playbook for card networks, regulators, issuers, acquirers, and merchants — from the people who wrote the modern PayFac rules.

  • The four core challenges agentic commerce creates — and why existing infrastructure can't absorb them.
  • Concrete, role-by-role recommendations for networks, regulators, issuers, acquirers, and merchants.
  • How to develop the next generation of risk professionals as AI takes over routine work.
Infinicept Whitepaper
Agentic AI
in Payments.
A Prescriptive Playbook for Networks, Regulators, and the Payments Industry.
Deana Rich& Todd Ablowitz

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The stakes

The transformation is coming fast — and the numbers are already moving.

477%
Surge in dark-web posts discussing "AI agent" tools over six months.
Visa Fall 2025 Threats Report
324M
Projected global chargebacks by 2028 — a 24% climb from 2025.
Mastercard 2025 State of Chargebacks
$9–10
Cost to a financial institution to process each disputed transaction.
Mastercard 2025 State of Chargebacks
The core challenges

Four problems existing payments infrastructure was never designed to handle.

Agentic systems don't just respond to prompts — they make decisions and take actions autonomously. That breaks assumptions baked into every dispute framework we have.

Challenge 01

Authorization ambiguity

If an agent saw you researching coffee cups and ordered them when they went on sale, did you authorize that transaction? Current dispute frameworks have no clear answer.

Challenge 02

Authenticity verification

When an agent orders the wrong color, books incorrect dates, or "hallucinates" instructions, how does a merchant distinguish a legitimate complaint from sophisticated fraud?

Challenge 03

Product gaps

When an agent finds a price a human would know is unreasonable, how do we ensure it isn't buying a counterfeit — and pushing money into the wrong hands?

Challenge 04

Accountability gaps

Agentic commerce adds AI platforms as a fifth party to the dispute. Current frameworks don't define liability when an agent malfunctions — and merchants are likely to bear the brunt.

Who it's for

A playbook for every seat at the table.

Each participant in the payments ecosystem has a distinct role to play before the problems arrive. The whitepaper offers specific recommendations for each.

Card Networks

Set the rules

Create transaction indicators, agent-specific reason codes, and clear liability allocation for autonomous payments.

Regulators

Enable & protect

Clarify how consumer protection laws apply to agent-initiated transactions — without writing rigid, soon-obsolete rulebooks.

Acquirers & Issuers

Prepare for complexity

Update dispute playbooks, invest in intent-validation tools, and stay close to emerging network protocols.

Merchants

Defend the front line

Implement agent detection, capture delegation data for disputes, and automate chargeback management now.

About the authors

Written by the people who wrote the PayFac playbook.

Deana Rich

Deana Rich

GM, Paysolve Advisory Services · Co-Founder, Infinicept

Over 35 years in payments risk and operations, and a recognized authority on PayFacs and payment risk and compliance strategy.

Todd Ablowitz

Todd Ablowitz

CEO, Double Diamond 2.0 · Co-Founder & Vice Chair, Infinicept

A 30-year payments-industry veteran and recognized authority on embedded payments, PayFacs, and payment technology strategy.

The cost of waiting

Ready to prepare your payments program for the agentic era?

The companies that engage early will help shape the liability frameworks and value-capture models that define agentic commerce. Those that wait will adapt to rules others wrote.

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