Staff Writer
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is transforming how consumers interact with commerce, from product discovery to payment execution. At the forefront of this transformation, Visa and Mastercard have announced major initiatives aimed at integrating secure, AI-driven shopping experiences into the global economy. These advancements represent a shift toward agentic commerce, where AI agents act on behalf of consumers to browse, select, and complete transactions.
Visa Introduces Intelligent Commerce for the AI Age
At the recent Visa Global Product Drop, the company unveiled Visa Intelligent Commerce, a platform designed to bring trust, security, and ease to AI-enabled transactions. The initiative grants developers and AI engineers access to Visa’s global payment infrastructure, making it easier to embed secure payment capabilities into emerging AI platforms.
“Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf,” Jack Forestell, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Visa said in a press release. “These agents will need to be trusted with payments, not only by users, but by banks and sellers as well.”
Visa Intelligent Commerce aims to remove payment friction by building on more than three decades of expertise in AI and fraud prevention. The platform is developed in collaboration with prominent AI and technology firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, Samsung, Stripe, and Perplexity.
“Just like the shift from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile, Visa is setting a new standard for a new era of commerce,” Forestell said. “Now, with Visa Intelligent Commerce, AI agents can find, shop and buy for consumers based on their pre-selected preferences. Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest.”
Features of Visa Intelligent Commerce
Visa’s AI commerce solution includes a comprehensive suite of tools designed to empower consumers, merchants, and developers:
AI-Ready Cards: Tokenized credentials that confirm agent permissions and verify identity, enhancing both security and convenience.
AI-Powered Personalization: With user consent, AI agents can access Visa purchase insights to improve shopping recommendations.
Secure, Customizable Payments: Consumers can define spending limits and receive real-time transaction signals to maintain control and oversight.
The platform’s core security features are backed by Visa’s robust data infrastructure, authentication APIs, and fraud management capabilities, ensuring that transactions remain seamless and secure in an AI-driven world.
More details are available at visa.com/intelligentcommerce.
Mastercard Launches Agent Pay to Advance Agentic Commerce
Not to be outdone, Mastercard has introduced Agent Pay, a key component of its broader Agentic Payments Program. The initiative is designed to bring secure, intelligent payment capabilities to the growing number of AI-driven commerce applications.
“Mastercard is transforming the way the world pays for the better by anticipating consumer needs on the horizon,” Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard said in a press release. “The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our initial steps in redefining commerce in the AI era, including new merchant interfaces to distinguish trusted agents from bad actors using agentic technology.”
Mastercard Agent Pay introduces Agentic Tokens, building on the company’s established tokenization technology. These digital credentials power various commerce use cases, from contactless mobile payments to recurring subscriptions and cross-border transactions.
Real-World Applications and Industry Collaboration
Mastercard is partnering with Microsoft to integrate AI solutions from the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot Studio, enabling conversational AI platforms to offer embedded, secure payments. For example:
A consumer planning a milestone birthday can chat with an AI agent that curates outfits based on style, venue, and weather—then seamlessly completes purchases using Mastercard One Credential.
A small business can use AI to manage supply chains and execute cross-border payments with virtual corporate cards.
Retailers can enhance customer experiences with personalized offers, rewards, and checkout recommendations based on secure token-based identification.
Mastercard is also collaborating with IBM’s Watson Orchestrate to expand B2B applications and with payment processors like Braintree and Checkout.com to enhance merchant tokenization capabilities.
Establishing Standards for Secure Agentic Commerce
A key element of Mastercard’s program is its focus on consumer protection and regulatory alignment. The company emphasizes:
Trusted Agent Registration: Only verified agents can transact on behalf of users.
Enhanced Fraud Prevention: Real-time monitoring and strong authentication methods—including biometrics—will help safeguard transactions.
Clear Consumer Controls: Users can set parameters that define agent permissions and spending limits.
Dispute Management Support: Mastercard will offer mechanisms to resolve unrecognized or disputed agent-initiated transactions.
The initiative is grounded in Mastercard’s commitment to responsible AI, aiming to set standards for trust, transparency, and security in agentic payments.
The Road Ahead
As both Visa and Mastercard invest in technologies that enable AI agents to securely conduct commerce, the shift toward agentic commerce is poised to redefine the consumer experience. These initiatives mark the early stages of what could become a ubiquitous way to shop—one where intelligent agents, guided by consumer preferences, autonomously handle the complexities of purchasing.
By establishing trusted infrastructure and partnering with leading AI platforms, both payment giants are preparing the global commerce ecosystem for a new era, where security, personalization, and automation converge to deliver smarter, seamless transactions.
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