The future of shopping just got smarter. Two of the biggest names in payments are bringing artificial intelligence directly into your purchasing decisions. Visa and Mastercard have unveiled new systems where AI handles the buying process for you. These tools learn your habits, respect your boundaries, and execute transactions with precision.
Visa introduced its Intelligent Commerce platform this week, designed to let AI handle shopping tasks based on user-set parameters. The company claims this system makes transactions more tailored, safer, and easier.
People define their own rules, then our technology takes care of the execution,
explained Jack Forestell, Visa’s product strategy lead. They’re partnering with major tech firms and emerging companies to build these capabilities, including collaborations with Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Not to be outdone, Mastercard revealed its Agent Pay function earlier this week. This feature allows AI helpers to complete purchases during conversational interactions. Imagine someone approaching their thirtieth birthday – their digital assistant could suggest complete party outfits from nearby stores and web shops, considering personal taste, event location, and even predicted weather conditions. After receiving approval, the system handles payment, potentially using Mastercard’s streamlined checkout option.
Mastercard is developing additional applications with Microsoft while working with IBM and other partners on related projects.
These announcements come amid growing interest in automated purchasing helpers. PayPal recently shared details about its version of this technology. Amazon began trials of its Buy for Me function with select customers earlier this month. Tech leaders like Google and OpenAI have demonstrated comparable systems that navigate websites to facilitate transactions. OpenAI just enhanced its ChatGPT search tool to better support online buying activities.