Visa and Mastercard, two major credit card companies, are advancing into the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Visa recently introduced “Intelligent Commerce,” a feature that utilizes AI to assist consumers in shopping and purchasing based on their preselected preferences.
According to Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Jack Forestell, each consumer will set their own limits, while Visa will help manage these parameters. Visa is collaborating with a range of tech companies, including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe, to create shopping experiences that are personalized, secure, and convenient.
Meanwhile, Mastercard announced its initiative to enable AI agents to shop online for consumers through its new Agent Pay offering. This feature aims to enhance generative AI interactions for individuals and businesses by incorporating payments into the recommendations provided on conversational platforms. For instance, an AI agent could help an individual planning a birthday party by curating outfits and accessories, making purchases, and recommending payment options like Mastercard One Credential.
Mastercard is also collaborating with Microsoft to expand “agentic commerce” and is working with IBM, Braintree, and Checkout.com on other facets of AI-driven shopping.
Alongside Visa and Mastercard, other companies are exploring AI-powered shopping. PayPal recently introduced its agentic commerce solution, and Amazon began testing a new AI shopping agent called “Buy for Me.” Additionally, OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have developed similar agents that assist with online shopping. OpenAI announced an update to its ChatGPT search tool to enhance users’ online shopping experiences.
This report has been updated to include PayPal’s AI agent offering.
