AI Goes Shopping
Artificial Intelligence is no longer just recommending products — it’s buying them. This week, Visa and Mastercard announced new AI-powered initiatives that give digital agents the ability to shop and make purchases on behalf of users, marking a major leap toward what’s now being called “agentic commerce.”
Visa’s new platform, Intelligent Commerce, aims to enable AI “to find and buy” based on a consumer’s predefined preferences. “Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest,” said Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer. The company is collaborating with a broad alliance of tech players — including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, OpenAI, Samsung, Stripe, and others — to make shopping smarter, more secure, and highly personalized.
Mastercard Doubles Down on Conversational AI
A day earlier, Mastercard introduced Agent Pay, its take on AI-driven purchasing. The platform enhances generative AI conversations by integrating payment capabilities directly into chat-based experiences. A person planning a milestone birthday party, for example, can now ask an AI assistant to curate outfits, select venues, check the weather, and even make the purchase — all through the same conversational interface.
“This is more than just shopping recommendations,” Mastercard said in a statement. “It’s about executing purchases, offering payment suggestions, and making commerce seamless.” The company is working with Microsoft to scale agentic commerce and partnering with IBM, Braintree, and Checkout.com to expand the infrastructure supporting these AI capabilities.
A Broader Shift Toward AI-Driven Commerce
Visa and Mastercard’s announcements reflect a broader trend among major financial and tech players. PayPal also unveiled its own AI agent for shopping this week, becoming the third major fintech to enter the agentic commerce race.
Earlier in April, Amazon began testing a new feature called “Buy for Me,” which empowers its AI to make purchases for users based on past preferences and current needs. And OpenAI has been steadily upgrading ChatGPT’s web browsing abilities, enabling it to assist with online shopping more efficiently. Similarly, Google and Perplexity have demonstrated AI systems that can navigate websites and assist with end-to-end purchase decisions.
The Rise of Agentic Commerce
At the heart of this wave is the concept of agentic commerce — the idea that intelligent agents can handle the entire shopping workflow: discovery, decision-making, and payment. These systems go beyond basic chatbots or recommendation engines. They’re designed to be autonomous, adaptive, and deeply contextual, combining conversational understanding with transactional capability.
What This Means for Consumers?
While the technology is still in its early stages, the potential impact is massive. Users could delegate routine purchases, receive better-tailored suggestions, and enjoy a frictionless payment experience. Security and personalization remain key challenges — but partnerships with companies like Microsoft, IBM, and OpenAI signal that the industry is moving quickly to address them.
As AI continues to evolve, the future of shopping may not involve browsing at all — just telling your AI what you need and letting it do the work.
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