Visa Tests AI Agents That Can Make Payments on Behalf of Users

Visa Tests AI Agents That Can Make Payments on Behalf of Users

Visa has revealed that it successfully completed hundreds of AI-powered transactions as part of a pilot program aimed at letting artificial intelligence agents make payments on behalf of users.

The pilot launched shortly after Visa’s product event in April and is part of a broader push across the fintech industry to build agentic AI tools—AI systems that can carry out tasks like shopping and payments with minimal human input.

According to Visa, these AI agents can help consumers complete transactions such as online purchases, ticket bookings, and recurring payments more efficiently.

“This is going to be the year we see an enormous amount of material adoption,” said Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s head of growth products and partnerships. He added that consumers are beginning to feel more comfortable interacting with AI across different platforms and use cases.

How AI Is Changing Online Shopping

AI is increasingly reshaping the e-commerce experience, from how users discover products to how they complete purchases. Instead of manually browsing and checking out, consumers can now task AI agents with shopping for them based on preferences, budgets, or past behavior.

Visa is not alone in this race.

In April, Mastercard announced it was testing a similar feature called Agent Pay, which allows AI agents to shop online for customers. Amazon also began testing a “Buy For Me” feature that lets AI complete purchases across different websites. Meanwhile, PayPal has partnered with Perplexity to explore agent-powered shopping tools.

A Visa survey conducted in December found that nearly half of U.S. shoppers already use AI in some part of their shopping experience, showing growing comfort with AI-assisted purchases.

Where AI Payments Make Sense

While the technology is still early, Birwadker said AI-powered payments could be especially useful for repeat purchases, subscriptions, or time-sensitive events like buying concert tickets, where speed matters.

Visa plans to expand its AI payments pilots to Asia and Europe next year. The company also confirmed it is currently working with more than 20 partners to develop and test AI agent payment tools.

As competition heats up, Visa’s early tests suggest that AI-driven payments could soon become a regular part of how people shop and pay online.

TechCity