PARIS, France, June 30. Agentic commerce, in
which AI agents will make purchases on behalf of users, will be the
next stage in the development of digital commerce and payments,
Visa's Group President, Oliver Jenkyn, said, Trend's special correspondent
reports from the event.
Jenkyn made the remark at a briefing held as part of the Visa
Payments Forum in Paris.
According to him, artificial intelligence has the potential to
significantly accelerate the digitization of payments worldwide,
though a high degree of uncertainty still surrounds generative
AI.
“During closed-door meetings with executives from major
companies around the world, I constantly hear the same questions.
Companies are afraid of falling behind in the development of
artificial intelligence; they’re trying to understand where it
actually delivers economic benefits; they’re interested in the
extent to which Visa’s solutions already use AI; and, finally,
they’re asking how to prepare for the era of agent-driven
commerce,” Jenkyn said.
In his view, intelligent agents will be able to make purchases
independently on behalf of both consumers and businesses in the
very near future.
“I am absolutely convinced that in the coming years, agents will
purchase goods and services on our behalf. It is not yet clear who
exactly will develop such solutions, on which platforms they will
operate, or which categories of purchases they will cover first.
But this area will develop rapidly,” he noted.
As an example, Jenkyn described a possible scenario for using
such services. According to him, users will be able to provide the
AI with secure payment data, information about their preferences,
purchase history, and loyalty programs, as well as set restrictions
— for example, specifying approved merchants or spending limits.
This will allow artificial intelligence to make decisions that take
the owner’s individual preferences into account.
At the same time, Jenkyn emphasized that the widespread adoption
of agent-based commerce will require resolving several
technological, behavioral, and legal issues.
“Today, the internet is designed for people, not for AI agents.
We need new standards, protocols, and interfaces that will allow
agents to interact safely with digital commerce. In addition, users
will need time to get used to the idea that artificial intelligence
can make purchases. It is equally important to define liability
rules in cases where AI makes a mistake while making a purchase,”
he said.
Despite the existing challenges, Jenkyn expressed confidence
that agency commerce will become just as significant a milestone in
the industry’s development as e-commerce and mobile commerce were
in the past.
“It’s inevitable. Agency commerce will radically change how
consumers interact with digital commerce. If the industry starts
investing in the necessary technologies and infrastructure now,
these changes will benefit all market participants,” he
concluded.
