AI Takes the Reins: Visa and Mastercard Empower Automated Shopping and Payments

Leading payment companies are making significant investments in AI technology. This week, Visa and Mastercard announced groundbreaking initiatives that will allow AI agents to shop, make choices, and finalize purchases on your behalf—marking a significant step into what is being termed agentic commerce.

This goes beyond a mere technological upgrade; it signifies a transformative change in how consumers will engage with online shopping. Instead of browsing or placing items in a cart, AI will soon manage all aspects—from search to payment—tailored to your individual preferences.

Visa’s Initiative

Unveiled at the Visa Global Product Drop, Visa’s new platform empowers developers to create AI shopping assistants capable of searching, comparing, deciding, and making purchases using Visa’s systems.

“Each consumer sets the parameters, and Visa facilitates the rest,” said Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer.

The features include:

• AI-compatible credit cards equipped with tokenized digital credentials for enhanced security
• Personalized insights (with user consent) to enhance agent functionality
• Transaction tools allowing AI to complete purchases within user-defined parameters

Photo by CardMapr.nl on Unsplash

Visa is collaborating with an impressive roster of partners, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, IBM, Mistral AI, Perplexity, Stripe, and Samsung.

Mastercard’s Strategy

A day earlier, Mastercard introduced Agent Pay, a feature allowing generative AI agents to make purchases seamlessly during conversations. Picture interacting with an AI stylist who understands your size, style, and the occasion, and selects the ideal outfit for you.

“Now she can converse with an AI agent to actively select outfits… and finalize the purchase,” Mastercard said in reference to planning a 30th birthday celebration.

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