Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our daily lives, and now, it’s set to revolutionise the way we shop and pay. Visa and Mastercard have recently unveiled groundbreaking initiatives – Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay – that enable AI agents to autonomously discover, select, and purchase products on behalf of consumers. This marks a significant shift in digital commerce, introducing a new era where AI-driven transactions become integral to the shopping experience.
What is agentic commerce?
Imagine an AI assistant – not the kind that just sets reminders, but one that knows your preferences, shops around for the best deals, chooses the payment method you’d typically use, and places the order – without you lifting a finger.
That’s agentic commerce. In this model, AI agents act as intelligent mediators, making purchases within limits you set. Want it to cap spending at €100 per day? Prefer Apple Pay over a credit card? Done and done. You’re still in charge, but AI handles all the time-consuming tasks, making your life easier.
And if once it looked like something straight out of sci-fi, now it’s becoming a reality – Visa and Mastercard are already working to make this happen.
Visa Intelligent Commerce
Visa’s Intelligent Commerce initiative introduces a suite of integrated APIs and a commercial partner programme aimed at enabling AI platforms to incorporate secure payment capabilities. Key highlights:
AI-ready cards: tokenised digital credentials that replace traditional card details, allowing AI agents to make authorised transactions on behalf of users. They’re secure, verifiable, and built for machine-to-merchant payments.
Open API ecosystem: Visa’s partnering with tech companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and other tech companies. These integrations will allow AI platforms to directly tap into Visa’s infrastructure.
Real-time controls & personalisation: users can set spending limits and conditions, providing clear guidelines for AI agent transactions. Visa’s system shares commerce signals in real-time to manage disputes and enforce transaction controls.
Stablecoin and BNPL integrations: Visa is expanding its Flex Credential platform and partnering with fintech developers to offer stablecoin-linked cards and Buy Now, Pay Later options, broadening the scope of AI-enabled payment methods.
Mastercard Agent Pay
Mastercard’s approach focuses on securing and scaling AI-powered transactions across both personal and B2B commerce:
Agentic tokens: building upon existing tokenisation technology, these tokens enable AI agents to execute secure transactions on behalf of users, supporting services like mobile contactless payments and recurring subscriptions.
Personal & B2B use cases: from booking black-tie event outfit to businesses automating procurement and logistics, AI agents are being prototyped for a wide range of scenarios.
Tech Partnerships: Mastercard is teaming up with Microsoft, IBM, and other tech giants to integrate payments into broader AI workflows and secure merchant channels.
Focus on security: Every AI agent must be registered and verified. Mastercard emphasises that payments made via AI must be authenticated, transparent, and easy to monitor across the value chain, to protect against fraud and unauthorised activities.
Payments ecosystem must adapt
AI agents in payments change the game for every player in the payment flow. For PSPs and acquirers, there’s a growing need for tokenisation, smart authentication, and frictionless API layers that can interface with AI systems. Merchants will need to rethink their checkout flows, optimising not just for human clicks but for machine-triggered payments too.
Consent and control become critical. Customers must have confidence that their AI agents won’t go rogue. Fraud prevention will need to evolve to detect AI mistakes, alongside criminal activity.
As these systems become more widely adopted, they’ll move beyond tech giants into mainstream retail, SaaS platforms, and service-based businesses.
The industry is evolving and staying ahead means embracing and adapting to these innovations. At PAYSTRAX, we are here to help you navigate this transformation and use the opportunities it presents.
