Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Levchin: Instacart grocery delivery is already 100% agentic commerce

Max Levchin · Why AI Agents Could Finally Reinvent the Credit Card · Sep 3, 2026 · at 58:01

Affirm CEO Max Levchin argues that consumers are already conditioned to outsource commerce decisions when using services like Instacart.

0:00 / 0:15exact quote · 15.9s
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“Grocery shopping is 100% agentic, like, for anyone who uses Instacart. Like, you tell your Instacart shopper, go bring me milk. You don't think twice when they say, oh yeah, you wanted whole milk from Organic Valley, but I found some other brand, and here it is.”

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