Agentic AI is lowering the cost and time required to develop payment software, but compliance, fraud controls and accountability still demand human expertise when transactions fail.
Artificial intelligence is making it far easier for software companies to create payment features, but it is doing little to remove the hard parts of running them. Paul Vienneau, chief technology officer at Payroc, told PYMNTS that the debate has shifted away from whether a company can afford to build payments internally and towards who will answer when something fails in the middle of the night. The result is a new version of the old build-versus-buy calculation, one in which speed of development matters less than accountability, compliance and operational resilience.
That shift matters because payments are not just another software module. The technology can be prototyped quickly with agentic AI, but the real burden sits behind the interface: fraud controls, testing, reporting, regulatory requirements and the ability to recover when transactions go wrong. Payroc’s own materials on integrated payments describe those same hidden obligations as recurring pain points for software providers, ranging from compliance monitoring to chargebacks and failed transactions. In other words, cheaper code does not make the surrounding financial plumbing any less demanding.
Vienneau’s argument also fits a wider concern in the financial industry: governance has not kept pace with AI adoption. Technology analysts at TechRadar Pro have noted that banks and other financial firms are using AI more broadly for fraud detection, customer support, compliance and operations, even as regulators and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England warn about cybersecurity, operational and oversight risks. Another TechRadar Pro analysis said AI risk is becoming fragmented across organisations, leaving no single leader fully responsible for the consequences when systems are embedded across departments.
For payments providers and their software partners, that means the most valuable part of the relationship may no longer be the code itself. It is the expertise that comes with it: the ability to test at scale, manage exceptions, respond to incidents and carry responsibility when money is involved. Payroc has argued in its own guidance that software companies need more than an API and a working integration; they need support that can handle settlement questions, merchant issues and the operational problems that appear after launch. Vienneau framed the point more bluntly to PYMNTS: AI can help write the software, but people still have to own the outcome.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
