Visa and Mastercard Introduce AI-Powered Shopping
Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are diving into the world of AI-powered shopping. Both companies recently announced new features that allow AI agents to shop online on behalf of consumers.
Visa's Intelligent Commerce
Visa's "Intelligent Commerce" empowers AI agents to find and purchase items based on pre-set customer preferences. Visa emphasizes user control, stating that consumers set their own spending limits. The company is collaborating with major tech players like Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe to develop these personalized and secure shopping experiences.
Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest. - Jack Forestell, Visa Chief Product and Strategy Officer
Mastercard's Agent Pay
Mastercard's "Agent Pay" integrates payments into AI-powered recommendations on conversational platforms. This allows AI agents to make purchases based on user preferences and feedback. Mastercard is working with Microsoft to expand agentic commerce and with IBM, Braintree, and Checkout.com on other AI shopping aspects.
Mastercard provided an example of a user planning a birthday party. An AI agent could curate outfits and accessories based on style, venue, and weather, then make the purchase using the user's preferred payment method.
Growing Trend in AI Shopping
Visa and Mastercard aren't alone in this trend. Amazon is testing its "Buy for Me" AI shopping agent. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have also showcased similar agents. OpenAI recently updated its ChatGPT search tool to enhance the online shopping experience.
These developments signal a significant shift in the e-commerce landscape, with AI poised to play a central role in how consumers shop online.
