Mayer Brown: Agentic AI Contracts Must Shift from SaaS Licensing to BPO-Style Service Models

Summary

Law firm Mayer Brown published a detailed analysis on February 17, 2026, authored by Rohith P. George, Joe Pennell, and Brad L. Peterson, arguing that as AI systems shift from passive tools to autonomous actors, traditional SaaS contracting models are no longer adequate and must give way to hybrid frameworks incorporating business process outsourcing (BPO)-style clauses. The paper identifies six categories of contract provisions that must evolve: service definitions (explicit delegation of autho