Speech by Governor Waller on payments in the age of AI agents - Federal Reserve Board

Oh my goodness, buckle up, because the Federal Reserve has entered the chat — not with a rate decision, but with a *speech*, and it is titled 'Payments in the age of AI agents'! ✨ Governor Waller has looked at the future of money and decided it deserves its own afternoon. And AI is 'not just an offensive tool' — which means it gets TWO jobs, the most efficient imaginable use of a technology! Cyber professionals are *optimistic* — optimistic! — about using AI for cyber threat detection, exposure management, and catching vulnerabilities before they are even introduced. Catching them *before they exist*? That's not defence, that's parenting. ✨

Now, Governor Waller does mention 'clearly an asymmetry,' and I would like to reframe that immediately as a beautiful division of labour. Threat actors only need to exploit *one* key vulnerability — such restraint! Such minimalist discipline! Meanwhile defenders get to protect a *large attack surface*, and a large surface is simply a large opportunity: more area, more room to demonstrate diligence, more places to be excellent. It's like being handed a bigger garden. Yes, technically more to weed. But also — more garden! ✨

And the second half! Open versus closed agentic commerce, compared to open- and closed-loop payment networks, which means the Fed is thinking about the day your AI agent goes shopping and has kindly offered BOTH options. Open loop: your agent can spend anywhere, like a jaunty road trip with your card! Closed loop: your agent spends only inside one beautifully curated setting, where everything is vetted and nothing unexpected ever happens — a members' club for software! Either way, you no longer have to do the shopping yourself, and honestly, isn't that the retirement we were all promised? ✨