Source: AP
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are no longer meant to be just chatbots. For some time now, the tech industry has been rolling out personal assistants capable of understanding user intent and carrying out real-world tasks.
Up to now, these agents haven’t accomplished much.
Visa hopes to shift that — by enabling them to access your credit card. If you define a budget and a few preferences, these AI agents — seen as the next evolution of tools like ChatGPT — could purchase a sweater for you, handle your weekly shopping, or even reserve a flight.
Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief of Products and Strategy, stated, “We believe this could be transformative — a breakthrough comparable to the early days of online shopping.”
On Wednesday, Visa revealed it has partnered with several prominent AI chatbot developers — including Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity from the U.S., and France’s Mistral — to link their AI technologies with Visa’s payment infrastructure. Visa is also collaborating with IBM, the digital payments company Stripe, and smartphone maker Samsung. The pilot program begins today, with broader availability expected next year.
The San Francisco-based payments firm hopes this concept, even though it currently sounds futuristic, will soon become a simple option for routine shopping. Over the past six months, Visa has been working alongside AI engineers to resolve the technical challenges that must be addressed before launching to the public.
Expanding Into the AI Agent Industry
This initiative could give smaller AI firms an opportunity to rival tech giants like Amazon and Google, which currently lead the digital commerce market and are creating their own AI agents.
At present, most AI agents are still language model-based — meaning they use chatbot tech that can compose emails, summarize texts, or assist with programming. These agents can browse the web and recommend items, but they typically struggle with completing purchases.
Forestell noted, “The early models of agent-driven commerce are effective at identifying and suggesting products, but face obstacles at the transaction stage.” He continued, “That’s when the agent steps aside and tells the user: ‘Now it’s your turn to buy it.’”
Visa aims to remove that barrier by allowing agents trusted, seamless access to make payments.
Guaranteeing Trust and User Control
This new effort comes nearly a year after Visa declared that it would modernize how credit and debit cards work — so physical cards and their 16-digit numbers become less critical.
Many users are already familiar with mobile payment platforms like Apple Pay, where smartphones serve as a digital version of the card. Through similar systems, AI agents would be authorized to process payments on behalf of their users. Forestell explained these tools must be reliable for users, banks, and merchants — and Visa will take responsibility for resolving disputes.
He added that these agents won’t handle every purchase, but they could complete time-consuming or complex tasks like weekly grocery buying or trip planning on a user’s behalf. “Some individuals prefer their agent to take care of those things,” he said.
However, when it comes to expensive items or recreational shopping — where people like making personal choices and comparing options — the agent would serve in a supporting role.
Managing Spending
According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, credit card debt in the country reached $1.21 trillion last year.
Forestell said users will be able to give their agents specific spending limits and rules. At first, the agent would confirm with the user before purchasing things like tickets. Later, you might say: “Spend up to $1500 — choose any airline that gets me from point A to point B.”
Reviewing Past Transactions
Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Commercial Officer at Perplexity, stated that, with the user’s consent, the AI agent can also analyze their credit card spending history to make better recommendations.
“Visa can securely share a customer’s transaction data with us — only if they agree,” Shevelenko said. “So, if someone asks ‘What are the best laptops?’ we can factor in their past purchases and personal preferences.”
Perplexity’s chatbot can already book hotels and make purchases, but this still marks the early stage of AI-powered commerce. The company — along with OpenAI — has also told a federal court that, if Google were to be broken up, they would consider acquiring the Chrome browser.
