Your Agent Just Authorized What?! — Jay Mok & Ben Coumes, Paypal
PayPal proposes a three-question authorization framework for agentic payment transactions
“the nightmare scenario here though in 2026 is not that the machines are or the agents are launching nukes, but rather uh they've uh taken your wallet and they've gone on a shopping spree”
PayPal engineers present a mental model for authorizing agentic payment transactions built on three questions: did a human authorize this, is it allowed within the current scope and time window, and can it be proven later for dispute resolution. Authorization rigor is calibrated by two axes — stake level (low vs. high) and ecosystem openness (closed/known parties vs. open/unknown agents), with the 'Know Your Agent' (KYA) concept as a key frame. This is practically significant as AI agents are beginning to execute real financial transactions autonomously at scale.