**Global:** Visa has teamed up with top AI developers including OpenAI and Microsoft to integrate autonomous AI agents into its payment network, aiming to revolutionise digital commerce by allowing AI to manage purchases based on user preferences and budgets.
Visa has announced a partnership with leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developers, aiming to integrate advanced AI technologies with its payment network. This initiative is positioned as a transformative advance in the realm of digital commerce, which Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Jack Forestell, describes as potentially “transformational, on the order of magnitude of the advent of e-commerce itself.”
The collaboration involves notable American AI firms, including Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Perplexity, as well as France’s Mistral, and it also includes ongoing work with major players like IBM, payment processing company Stripe, and phone manufacturer Samsung. Visa’s objective is to enable consumers to use AI “agents” that can autonomously perform shopping tasks such as purchasing clothing, groceries, or travel tickets, based on individual budgets and preferences provided by the users.
The initial pilot projects commenced last week, with wider implementation slated for the following year. Visa’s commitment to this area reflects a belief in the potential for AI agents to serve as a convenient alternative for mundane shopping tasks, thereby enhancing consumers’ digital experiences.
In recent months, the tech industry has been exploring the capabilities of what is termed “agentic AI,” which is designed to be more than just sophisticated chatbots. Although these technologies have been showcased in various demonstrations, they remain largely absent from everyday use, primarily functioning as iterations of large language models. According to Forestell, while these early forms are performing well in terms of shopping and discovery, they face significant challenges when it comes to executing payments. He reiterated that after a certain point, these AI systems tend to redirect users back to manual purchasing actions.
Forestell emphasised Visa’s role in facilitating smoother and trusted payment access for these AI-driven platforms, stating, “The payments problem is not something the AI platforms can solve by themselves.” This aligns with Visa’s ongoing evolution, particularly after it announced significant changes to credit and debit card operations in the United States, rendering physical cards and their associated numbers increasingly obsolete.
As consumers become accustomed to digital payment solutions — exemplified by services like Apple Pay, which effectively turn smartphones into credit cards — there is an opportunity for AI agents to leverage this trend. With customer permission, these agents will be able to access detailed data on previous transactions, enabling them to make informed purchasing decisions on behalf of users.
Forestell outlined the practical implications of this initiative, suggesting that AI agents may not entirely replace the traditional shopping experience. However, they could prove beneficial for tasks that some users find tedious or complex, such as grocery shopping or travel arrangements. He noted, “some people might want an agent that just powers through it and automatically goes and does stuff for us.”
Through this strategic partnership, Visa is positioning itself not only as a leader in digital payments but as a key facilitator in the emerging landscape of AI-driven commerce, particularly as it seeks to counter the competitive offerings of retail giants like Amazon and Google, who are actively developing their own AI agents.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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