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    Who are the most influential voices in Agentic commerce & AI shopping?

    Updated October 20, 2026

    Key takeaway

    The ten answers do not converge on a stable top ten for agentic commerce. Some rank broad AI and technology leaders, while others select retail, payments, consulting and shopping-agent practitioners. The shared theme is influence over AI-enabled shopping, but the engines use different definitions of influence. Lists vary substantially even between samples from the same engine.

    Where they differ

    Who counts as an agentic-commerce voice

      Verdict

      These ten answers are competing interpretations of influence, not a verified directory or stable top-ten ranking. General AI leaders and commerce specialists should be distinguished. One ChatGPT list includes a company in a person list, and one Copilot list contains an unnamed CEO; each therefore supplies only nine named people. Names and affiliation claims require independent verification before use as a contact or expert directory.

      What engines actually searched

      The sub-queries each engine actually searched before answering.

      Cited, but not mentioned

      8 sites cite this answer without naming anyone

      Full responses

      5 of 5 engines that answered. Full stored text as captured, with dashes shown as hyphens. Nothing is summarised.

      ChatGPT149 characters · October 10, 2026
      1. Sam Altman
      2. Sundar Pichai
      3. Andy Jassy
      4. Shopify
      5. Riley Strong
      6. Vanessa Lee
      7. Mani Fazeli
      8. Amit Handa
      9. Rajiv Mehta
      10. Jeff Weinstein
      Gemini logo Gemini4,305 characters · October 10, 2026

      Determining a definitive ranking of individual influence in emerging technology fields like agentic commerce and AI shopping involves a subjective assessment based on distinct perspectives, such as retail strategy, product architecture, platform engineering, and consumer research.

      Rather than a strict hierarchy, the following list highlights ten prominent individual thought leaders and experts who are actively shaping the discourse, infrastructure, and strategy around AI-driven shopping and agentic commerce:

      1. Jacqueline Karlin – Founder and CEO of Agentic Commerce Advisory, known for her leadership work on AI shopping personalization, voice commerce, and checkout systems across major platforms like PayPal, Amazon, and Expedia. Agentic Commerce: What It Is, What Works, and What Changes Next

      2. Aaron Cheris – Partner at Bain & Company, leading retail and consumer practice insights focusing on how autonomous shopping agents and generative AI are fundamentally altering retail economics and customer funnels. Agentic AI in Retail: How Autonomous Shopping Is Redefining the

      3. Mikey Vu – Partner at Bain & Company, widely recognized for research and strategic frameworks addressing the disruption of the shopper journey by third-party and retailer-owned AI agents. Agentic AI in Retail: How Autonomous Shopping Is Redefining the

      4. Mark Ruston – Global Retail Lead at Capgemini, advising Tier 1 retailers and CPG brands on bridging strategy and execution for generative engine optimization (GEO) and agentic commerce operations. Agentic commerce in Consumer Products & Retail - Capgemini

      5. Maxime Girardeau – Global Offer Lead for Commerce and GEO at Capgemini, specializing in helping organizations build conversational commerce frameworks and optimize discoverability within AI-generated answers. Agentic commerce in Consumer Products & Retail - Capgemini

      6. Anne-Claire Baschet – Senior commerce technology strategist focusing on catalog structuring, data readiness, and semantic enrichments required for brands to succeed within large language model shopping ecosystems. How top eCommerce leaders are preparing for the agentic ... - Mirakl

      7. Marc-André Kamel – Retail practice leader and global expert advising multinational consumer brands on adapting commercial fundamentals and omnichannel strategies to machine-speed demand.

      8. Leah Johns – Global Consumer Lab practice leader at Bain & Company, tracking shifting consumer trust, intent delegation, and shopping habits regarding autonomous AI agents.

      9. Stephanie Koszyk – Consumer products and retail strategy expert focusing on how enterprise architecture and real-time inventory management must evolve to support automated agent transactions.

      10. Maureen Burns – Senior partner specializing in customer loyalty and experience economics, examining how brands maintain customer connection and trust when intermediaries and AI agents manage the purchase path.

      Google AI Mode2,540 characters · October 10, 2026
      1. Noelle Russell - Ranked #1 Global Thought Leader in Agentic AI by Thinkers360 and CEO of the AI Leadership Institute. Noelle R. - Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area | Professional Profile | LinkedInTop 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Agentic AI 2025 | Thinkers360
      2. Aviv Shamny - Co-founder and CEO of Limy, pioneering AI search and logic-based optimization for agentic shopping ecosystems. As A.I. Agents Begin Shopping, Brands Are Changing Their
      3. Riley Strong - Engineering leader at OpenAI steering core commerce and transaction capabilities within conversational AI interfaces. Talent Tracker: Leaders of the AI Shopping RevolutionThe 17 People Crucial to AI Shopping
      4. Amit Handa - Director of engineering at Google driving AI-integrated shopping and real-time merchant frameworks. [The Information]
      5. Tim Cortinovis - Recognized global influencer and author specializing in the integration of autonomous agent workflows and business automation. [Thinkers360]
      6. John Santaferraro - Prominent enterprise AI analyst and global influencer tracking autonomous agent deployment across digital commerce. [Thinkers360]
      7. Vikas Mittal - Principal architect at Walmart Global Tech building real-time backend commerce platforms for autonomous retail and agentic execution. ​The AI Shopping Agent Is Easy; The Commerce Platform
      8. Balaji Dhamodharan - Global thought leader and strategist focusing on enterprise implementation of agentic AI frameworks. [Thinkers360]
      9. Michael Fauscette - Leading industry analyst evaluating market transitions toward AI-driven business systems and intelligent agents. [Thinkers360]
      10. Ian Barkin - Recognized authority and advisor on enterprise automation and the operationalization of agentic workflows. [Thinkers360]

      If you would like, I can provide:

      • The specific contributions and key projects associated with each leader
      • Recent publications or talks from the top-ranked figures on this list

      Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

      Perplexity164 characters · October 20, 2026
      1. Sam Altman
      2. Jensen Huang
      3. Satya Nadella
      4. Mustafa Suleyman
      5. Elon Musk
      6. Dario Amodei
      7. Andrew Ng
      8. Allie K. Miller
      9. Demis Hassabis
      10. Kathleen Walch
      Copilot logo Copilot4,051 characters · October 10, 2026

      Top 10 most influential individual voices on Agentic Commerce & AI Shopping (ranked):

      1. Mike Edmonds – Leads agentic commerce strategy at PayPal, shaping standards for AI-driven shopping.PayPal, Home Depot: Agentic Commerce Disrupts | RetailNews.ai

      2. Angie Brown – CIO of The Home Depot, driving AI shopping assistants and agentic commerce experiments.PayPal, Home Depot: Agentic Commerce Disrupts | RetailNews.ai

      3. Fiona Tan – Chief Technology Officer at Wayfair, influential in AI-powered discovery and personalization.PayPal, Home Depot: Agentic Commerce Disrupts | RetailNews.ai

      4. Kumar Senthil – Co-founder & CEO of Firmly, building infrastructure for AI agents to discover and transact.What will make consumers trust AI shopping agents? Startup founders explain | Mastercard Europe

      5. Scot Wingo – Co-founder & CEO of ReFiBuy, optimizing product catalogs for agentic commerce.What will make consumers trust AI shopping agents? Startup founders explain | Mastercard Europe

      6. Karol Stępień – CEO of 10Clouds, advocating agentic commerce as fundamental to future business accessibility.What will make consumers trust AI shopping agents? Startup founders explain | Mastercard Europe

      7. Viggo Stenseth – CEO of Solvapay, pioneering secure payment rails and consumer trust frameworks for AI agents.What will make consumers trust AI shopping agents? Startup founders explain | Mastercard Europe

      8. Akihiro Suzuki – Founder & CEO of Stellagent, mapping the agentic commerce ecosystem and protocol wars.Agentic Commerce Landscape Map 2026 - A Complete Player Overview | Stellagent

      9. Jason Del Rey – Founder of The Aisle , moderating key industry debates on agentic commerce adoption.PayPal, Home Depot: Agentic Commerce Disrupts | RetailNews.ai

      10. Anita Lacea – Head of Gen AI Image Ads at Amazon Ads, shaping AI-driven retail engagement strategies.AiR – Top AI Leaders of 2025 - RETHINK Retail

      Why these 10 matter

      • Executives at major retailers (PayPal, Home Depot, Wayfair, Amazon) are setting standards and deploying real-world agentic commerce systems.

      • Startup founders (Firmly, ReFiBuy, Solvapay, 10Clouds) are building the infrastructure and protocols that make autonomous shopping possible.

      • Analysts and ecosystem mappers (Stellagent, The Aisle) provide frameworks and thought leadership that influence adoption across the industry.

      Key considerations

      • Protocols & Standards: Leaders like Akihiro Suzuki highlight the battle between Google’s UCP and OpenAI/Stripe’s ACP.

      • Trust & Security: Viggo Stenseth emphasizes consumer confidence through tokenized payments and guardrails.

      • Retail Integration : Angie Brown and Fiona Tan show how agentic commerce is being embedded into mainstream retail operations.

      📌 In short: These 10 individuals are the most influential voices shaping agentic commerce and AI shopping today, spanning retail giants, startups, and ecosystem strategists. Would you like me to also map which of these voices are most active on social media vs. behind-the-scenes protocol development? That could help distinguish public influence from technical influence.