In the high-stakes world of global payments, AI is fundamentally changing how money changes hands. Soon, the person swiping a digital credit card or approving a wire transfer may not be a person at all, but an AI agent acting on their behalf. Without dedicated identity controls to manage their entire lifecycle and enforce least privilege, these agents stand to become the enterprise’s most volatile attack vector.
For leaders in regulated industries, the initial instinct may be to block access to AI tools to protect against data leakage and ensure compliance. But this approach can backfire. “If you block things, you’re just blocking visibility,” says Amar Akshat, SVP Technology & Chief Architect at Paysafe, in a recent conversation for our Executive Exchange series.
The rise of agentic AI demands a radical shift in security strategy, Akshat says. Traditional identity security is built for humans and system accounts, but AI agents challenge these long-term trust boundaries. Akshat proposes a new standard for this era: “Know Your Agent” (KYA). Much like the “Know Your Customer” (KYC) protocols that revolutionized financial transparency, KYA establishes a rigorous framework for verifying non-human entities to reduce fraud and create an audit trail.
To navigate this transition, Akshat highlights two strategic pillars:
Human-in-the-loop: While agents provide machine-speed efficiency, human oversight is essential for high-stakes decision-making and regulatory compliance. “Every time a dollar value is involved, or data movement is involved, we put a human in the loop,” says Akshat.
Identity-first guardrails: Securing AI is fundamentally an identity problem. Adopting a unified identity security fabric helps organizations see, control, and govern every agent with the same rigor applied to human workforces.
Watch the full Executive Exchange video above to learn more from Amar Akshat on the "Know Your Agent" concept, balancing automation with human oversight, and navigating regulatory lag in the AI era.
