Snippings

The AI Agent Index, the first public database to document information about currently deployed agentic AI systems, had 67 systems listed at the end of January 2025, most of them them pertaining to software and computing tasks, and the number continue to grow. The agentic AI era is upon us, and it is time to prepare for the word of agentic commerce.

The Bank of America Institute published a short report on “The new wave: Agentic AI” that says that while we may not be getting Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) or the technological singularity any time soon, advances in the AI power means that we may be approaching an accelerating super cycle of innovation, in which increasingly powerful models produce increasingly powerful apps that in turn, drive additional model advances and app capabilities.

 

 

The phrase agentic AI has received a lot of attention leaving some to wonder what all the excitement is about. Well, we are rapdily shifting from a world of AI agents (who suggest things for you to do) to a world of agentic AIs (who act of your behalf).

As we move into the age of agentic commerce, or a-commerce as I insist on calling it, the issue of digital identity becomes the fundamental enabler for neew ways of doing business. Hence it is very important just how a digitial identity infrastructure will work and how it will be governed.

Sam Altman’s World project (formerly known as “Worlcoin”) now wants to create tools that link certain AI agents to people’s online personas, allowing service providers to verify that an agent is acting on a person’s behalf. This is an important problem to solve: when an agent comes to my bank agent and asks it to transfer $100 to another agent, the bank agent needs to know two things. First, it needs to be able to uniquely identify the agent that is making the request. For audit and control reasons, the bank may not know who provides this agent, but it must know which agent it is (and, presumably, that the agent is authorised to talk to bank accounts in a particular jurisdiction). Secondly, the bank agent needs to know that my agent is authorised to act on my behalf for the particular transaction.

Now, in technical terms, these are relatively simply problems to solve. Verifiable credentials are the obvious mechanism for implementing the permissions.

 

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It kicks off with up to 150 queries and transactions available for customers, which translates into answering over 3000 questions. Based on generative artificial intelligence, the tool aims to humanise BBVA’s digital channels, with much friendlier interactions, while enhancing efficiency when answering questions.

From: BBVA virtual assistant gets AI-powered account and card management features.

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But the gallery’s owner has revealed how her livelihood and reputation were ‘ruined’ after the Pierce Brosnan with whom she spent months negotiating the exhibition of a lifetime turned out not to be the Bond star but a ‘deepfake’.

Simone Simms has spoken for the first time about how she fell for the elaborate artificial intelligence (AI) scam which resulted in her losing her £30,000 Long Eaton gallery.

From: Revealed: The sinister story of how an AI deepfake of 007 star Pierce Brosnan has left an art gallery owner’s world in tatters | Daily Mail Online.

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A tenant, who stole the identity of a woman called ‘Poonam Grover’, then paid a deposit and was able to pass the reference report with a forged driver’s licence.

From: I watched in horror as my tenant from hell sublet my flat on Airbnb before turning it into party pad and stealing my furniture… police said I had a ‘clear’ case but STILL took no action | Daily Mail Online.

This sort of nonsense goes on all the time. Showing a fake driving licence to someone who has no idea how to check whether a driving licence is real or not is a form of security theatre, not actual security.

 

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A 61-year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly dressing up in a series of wigs and disguises to take Life in the UK tests on behalf of others.
Immigration enforcement investigators arrested the woman at an address in Enfield on Monday on suspicion of fraudulently completing the citizenship tests for at least 14 applicants, both male and female.
She is alleged to have completed the tests across multiple test centres in the UK, disguising herself and doctoring ID documents to evade detection.

From: Enfield: Woman held for taking Life in the UK tests ‘in disguise’ – BBC News.

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A white paper from Boston Consulting Group “Apple in Payments—Winning by influencing” explored how Apple’s various initiatives (around BNPL, NFC and so on) will change the retail payments sector and concludes that “many merchants will add NFC payment funcitonality to their proprietary apps” because the ability to drive consumer loyalty through in-app rewards and offers in a seamless checkout experience wiill increase consumer engagement and in-store efficiency.

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Google Wallet on Thursday (Sept. 12) unveiled enhanced features to improve the travel and commuting experience.

Starting soon, per a Thursday Google blog post, U.S. users can create digital IDs from their passports for use at select TSA checkpoints, making domestic travel more convenient. The service also expands support for state-issued IDs and prepaid commuter benefit cards, with plans to integrate more transit options globally.

From: Google Wallet Debuts Digital IDs and Enhances Commuter Features.

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I think and talk a lot about the risks of powerful AI. The company I’m the CEO of, Anthropic, does a lot of research on how to reduce these risks.

From: Dario Amodei — Machines of Loving Grace.

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I believe that in the AI age, we should be talking about the marginal returns to intelligence7, and trying to figure out what the other factors are that are complementary to intelligence and that become limiting factors when intelligence is very high. 

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What have we learnt from El Salvador’s four-year bitcoin experiment? I would suggest that it definitively proved that bitcoin is not destined to be money.

From: Moneyness: The end of El Salvador’s bitcoin payments experiment.

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Former Silicon Valley Bank chief executive Ken Wilcox has warned that Trump’s deregulation agenda could lead to more bank failures similar to those experienced by SVB and other lenders in 2023 and during the 2008 financial crisis, warning that “banks will run amok” if regulatory enforcement is loosened.

From: Former SVB chief warns Trump 2.0 could lead to more bank failures – The Banker.

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The AI Agent Index, the first public database to document information about currently deployed agentic AI systems, had 67 systems listed at the end of January 2025, most of them them pertinaing to software and computing tasks.

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UK neobanks are rapidly gaining ground, with new data showing a major shift in consumer behaviour. The share of UK adults using a fintech or neobank has surged from 16% in 2018 to 50% by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the number of consumers holding their main debit card with a neobank has jumped from 1% in 2020 to 9% in 2024, while the Big Six banks have seen their share shrink from 85% to 71%. Notably, neobank users also spend 20% more than those with traditional banks, according to data from RFI Global.

From: Issue #143: eToro’s IPO Redux, Affirm To Fuel FIS’ BNPL Play, And UK Neobanks Keep Gaining Ground.

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