Within days of each other, MasterCard and Visa announced AI Agent capabilities to their users … More advancing agentic commerce. getty A new era of intelligent, autonomous shopping is quickly taking shape — and two of the world’s biggest payments networks are leading the charge. Within days of each other, Mastercard and Visa both unveiled AI agent capabilities that allow intelligent software to make purchases on behalf of consumers.

While Visa’s move garnered headlines for enabling AI systems like ChatGPT to transact with stored credentials, Mastercard has gone a step further — building out what it calls Agent Pay, an AI-native payment infrastructure rooted in tokenization, trust and agentic commerce. “Mastercard Agent Pay brings transparency and trust to the ecosystem,” shared Sherri Haymond, Co-President of Global Partnerships at Mastercard in an email response. “As people grow increasingly comfortable with AI, Agent Pay addresses a genuine need by simplifying the purchasing process and providing personalized recommendations.” Unlike traditional digital wallets or voice assistants that facilitate transactions after user prompts, Agent Pay enables fully autonomous agents to identify, research, negotiate and pay for goods or services — based on user preferences and intent.

The result is a seamless interaction where the AI not only suggests the best options but can also securely close the deal on your behalf. From Generative AI To AI Agent Buyer In this emerging “agentic” economy, AI no longer just responds — it acts. That distinction matters.

Mastercard defines agentic commerce as a new class of AI-powered capabilities that allow software agents to handle the entire end-to-end process of a purchase, from discovery to delivery. That evolution required not only a leap in AI design but also a fundamental rethinking of the online payments stack. “Moving beyond traditional AI and generative AI, agentic AI executes tasks autonomously, understanding our intentions and making decisions in real time to achieve our goals,” Haymond explained.

“Agentic commerce is not just about enabling AI to transact — it’s about building a new foundation of trust, security and interoperability across the entire payments ecosystem.” Visa’s offering – dubbed Visa Intelligent Commerce – focuses on enabling AI models like ChatGPT to access Visa credentials via a “delegated authorization” model. Mastercard, in contrast, is anchoring Agent Pay in a robust security framework built around agentic tokens — an evolution of its long-standing tokenization tech — to ensure each transaction by an AI agent is both secure and transparent. AI Agent Buyers – Tokens, Trust And Consumer Control Mastercard’s tokenization system, introduced a decade ago, replaces sensitive card credentials with secure, merchant-specific tokens.

With Agent Pay, that approach is extended to allow trusted AI agents to transact without ever exposing real payment data — a critical feature in an environment without direct human oversight. “We’ve enhanced this technology and built it for the age of AI,” Haymond explained. “Mastercard agentic tokens allow AI agents to make secure and transparent purchases on behalf of users.” To further reinforce consumer trust, Mastercard requires AI agents to be registered and verified.

Each purchase is logged and traceable, and consumers have the ability to set parameters for what an agent can — and cannot — do. The company is also applying its full suite of cybersecurity capabilities to monitor agent-led transactions for fraud, dispute resolution and abuse. From Personalized Ads To AI Agent Purchases For You The value proposition goes far beyond simply tying payments to personalized ads.

According to Haymond, Agent Pay enables conversational AI platforms — such as Copilot, Gemini or ChatGPT — to fully integrate product discovery, task automation and payment within a single interface. “With the introduction of Mastercard Agent Pay, we’re effectively letting consumers and businesses close the loop,” she said. “The user can receive recommendations, have tasks completed and make purchases — all in one place.” Use cases span routine buys like groceries or last-minute gifts to complex workflows like booking business travel, managing logistics or planning large events.

In each scenario, the AI agent dynamically selects the optimal payment method while remaining within user-defined parameters. Personalized AI Agent Purchases – A Broader Trend The near-simultaneous launches from Mastercard and Visa signal more than competitive posturing — they mark the early stages of a broader shift in the way commerce functions. As the payments industry continues to evolve from card-present to card-not-present to card-agent-present, the networks are positioning themselves not just as processors, but as critical infrastructure for the next wave of digital buying.

“These transactions were already happening, but invisible,” Haymond said. “This is the latest way we have deployed AI tech across our business over several decades.” With AI agents becoming more capable and consumers increasingly open to machine-mediated transactions, Mastercard expects Agent Pay to move from early adopter novelty to mainstream norm. Partnerships with conversational AI platforms are already underway, and Haymond hinted at further integrations to be announced later this year.

“We expect that Mastercard Agent Pay will unlock an entirely new commerce reality,” she said. “As AI technology continues to advance and consumers become more accustomed to AI-driven solutions, the demand for secure and personalized payments experiences will grow.”