**Global:** Visa and Mastercard have unveiled advanced AI-driven solutions to enable agentic commerce, involving trusted AI agents making secure payments and personalised shopping on behalf of users, alongside strategic partnerships with Microsoft, IBM, and OpenAI to accelerate AI integration in digital commerce.
Both Visa and Mastercard have recently unveiled significant initiatives aimed at advancing AI-driven agentic commerce, underscoring the growing trend towards incorporating artificial intelligence in the e-commerce sector.
On April 29, Mastercard introduced its Agent Pay solution, aimed at scaling agentic commerce in partnership with Microsoft and several leading AI platforms. This initiative will require trusted AI agents to be registered and verified, ensuring secure payments on behalf of users. Mastercard envisions a range of applications for this technology, including agents independently shopping for specific events or purposes based on individual user preferences and feedback. Additionally, these AI agents could assist businesses in various capacities, such as sourcing, optimising payment terms, and managing logistics.
To facilitate these capabilities, Mastercard plans to utilise Agentic Tokens, an evolution of existing secure tokenisation technologies that underpin functionalities like mobile tap-to-pay, saved card information, and secure online logins. The new tokens will support automated payments, including subscriptions and recurring bills, and will be integrated seamlessly across different agentic commerce platforms. The overarching goal is to establish a secure and intelligent environment for automated transactions within an AI-powered e-commerce ecosystem.
Mastercard’s collaboration with Microsoft will be particularly pivotal. The initiative will leverage Microsoft’s advanced AI technologies, including the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Copilot Studio. Moreover, Mastercard is also enlisting the expertise of other technology leaders like IBM, using its watsonx Orchestrate product to enhance B2B applications.
Almost concurrently, on April 30, Visa announced the rollout of its own set of agentic commerce tools under the umbrella of Visa Intelligent Commerce. This initiative aims to open Visa’s payment network to developers and engineers constructing foundational AI agents for e-commerce. Visa’s offering includes a suite of integrated APIs and a commercial partner program tailored for applicable AI platforms. Furthermore, the company is introducing AI-ready cards that replace traditional card details with tokenised digital credentials.
Visa’s set of tools also encompasses AI-powered personalisation features that enable agents to analyse consumer spending and purchasing insights, aiming to better understand user preferences. The infrastructure will provide easy setup for spending limits and conditions, facilitating smooth agentic commerce experiences. The entire agentic shopping process, from browsing to selection, purchase, and post-purchase management, is supported by Visa’s initiatives. The company has implemented controls for authorisation and transactions that govern what an AI agent can purchase on a user’s behalf, along with protections against fraud and privacy infringements.
Visa has partnered with established names in the technology sector, including OpenAI, IBM, Samsung, and Perplexity AI, a startup focused on developing an AI-powered search engine. These collaborations reflect a robust strategy to enhance the capabilities and functionalities of AI agents in the e-commerce landscape.
The emergence of agentic AI presents transformative benefits for e-commerce, changing how consumers discover new products, make purchasing decisions, and seek the best prices. The synchronized efforts of Visa and Mastercard in launching these innovative offerings respond to an increasing demand for AI agents that can provide seamless online shopping experiences. This trend has been bolstered by recent developments in agentic AI infrastructure from both smaller fintech startups and leading e-commerce marketplaces, indicating a significant shift in the digital commerce paradigm.
Source: Noah Wire Services
Subscribe to Industry Updates
