Visa unveils AI agent payment platform
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Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Visa is rolling out a new platform for a future where AI agents do the shopping for consumers.
Why it matters: Visa is racing to stay embedded in transactions as AI platforms take over checkout.
Driving the news: Visa on Wednesday unveiled Intelligent Commerce Connect, a platform that lets AI agents make payments across multiple card networs — not just Visa.
- Merchants can make their product catalogs directly discoverable to agents, allowing purchases without traditional checkout flows.
- The platform is currently in pilot and is expected to be generally available by June, Visa tells Axios.
Between the lines: The move builds on Visa's earlier efforts to support "agentic commerce," including tools to help merchants distinguish legitimate AI agents from bots.
- Visa is betting it can stay in the middle of the transaction as rivals like Mastercard push to shape how AI-driven commerce works.
- The push comes as tech, retail and payments companies work to build common standards for AI shopping, including efforts led by Google and Shopify.
What we're watching: Whether major merchants or platforms adopt the system beyond early pilots and if consumers will trust agents to complete purchases autonomously at scale.
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