The Google–OpenAI Agentic Commerce Business Model War

Premium Analysis

This is not just a monetization dispute or a business model fork. It is a philosophical split over what role AI agents should play in the economy.

Google sees the agent as a mediator. A more powerful version of search that interprets intent, shapes choice, and monetizes influence through advertising, while keeping the merchant and the transaction outside the agent itself.

OpenAI sees the agent as an actor. An autonomous buyer that compresses discovery, evaluation, and checkout into a single decision, monetized only when real economic value is created.

This difference matters because it determines where power accumulates.
In one world, AI becomes a smarter advertising surface. In the other, it becomes a transactional operating layer for commerce. The battle between Google and OpenAI is ultimately about which of these worlds agentic commerce will normalize.