Give an agent memory, reputation, a budget, and the right to sign. It stops being software and starts being a counterparty.
Information asymmetry was their oxygen. As agents verify claims directly, the middle thins out.
When provenance can be verified at infrastructure level, trust stops being friction and becomes the default.
EU ESPR and digital product passports already decide which products can be advertised. Whoever sets the schema sets the market.
Shareholder primacy struggles when an agent acts faster than oversight. Public-benefit structures matter more, not less.