The rise of autonomous commerce involving AI agents could transform the internet economy—potentially leading to the disappearance of advertising. This perspective was shared by a16z Crypto.
Curated agent marketplaces look a lot like AOL. Open payment protocols look a lot like HTTP. The last time this happened, HTTP won.
— a16z crypto (@a16zcrypto) March 22, 2026
What will prevail in the age of agentic commerce? pic.twitter.com/hFura0Sbxx
Since the inception of the World Wide Web, purchasing goods and services typically required visiting store websites.
The internet's business model has relied on "attention diversion": users would consume content, notice an appealing ad, and click on a link.
However, large language models (LLMs) and digital assistants operate differently—they execute specific algorithms without being distracted by marketing tactics.
"Ironically, advertising gave birth to the free internet, which produced a dataset of 10 trillion tokens. These data trained language models—and now they are undermining the advertising model itself," noted Merit Systems co-founder Sam Ragsdale.
In the digital realm, there have been "closed clubs" like Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn, which invested billions in engineers to protect user data around the clock.
However, AI agents with computer vision have learned to convincingly mimic human behavior online, blurring the line between bots and real users.
Open Protocols Over Closed Ecosystems
ChatGPT, Gemini, and other leading AI platforms have introduced instant payment features for users in the U.S., allowing purchases directly within chat interfaces.
However, these services represent new closed ecosystems where sellers undergo strict vetting. According to Ragsdale, the future lies in agentic commerce based on open protocols like x402 from Coinbase and MPP from Tempo and Stripe.
"An assistant that can only buy from pre-approved sellers is like an employee with a corporate card limited to three vendors. An agent using open protocols is like an entrepreneur with a bank account," he compared.
This idea is not new—the status code "402" (Payment Required) was proposed back in 1997, but there was no way to conduct micropayments with a fixed fee below a cent. This issue has now been resolved with the advent of stablecoins.
"In 1997, the internet had no business model, and no one knew why a server would talk to a stranger. Open protocols and the clever hack of advertising solved this problem, and civilization became digital. In 2026, this hack will die. Open protocols and the status code will take its place," concluded Ragsdale.
It’s worth noting that in March, a16z partner Noah Levin stated that the actual transaction volume of AI agents was found to be 15 times lower than Bloomberg's estimates.