Mastercard has launched Agent Pay, a groundbreaking payment infrastructure allowing AI agents to execute transactions autonomously. This system incorporates security, verification protocols, and trust mechanisms to manage AI-mediated transactions as the industry shifts towards agentic commerce. The announcement coincided with Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol debut, marking a collaboration to standardize how AI agents discover products and complete purchases seamlessly.
Key principles include agent registration via cryptographic tokens, interface standardization to eliminate fragmentation, intent verification to ensure correct consumer preferences, and mandatory consumer consent through biometric authentication. Mastercard’s architecture integrates with its existing payment networks, promoting scalability and simplifying merchant adoption.
Industry demand is evident, with significant increases in generative AI-driven traffic to retail websites and projections estimating AI handling 20% of e-commerce tasks by the end of 2025. As these open protocols emerge, they challenge closed ecosystems, setting the stage for expansive growth in autonomous commerce.
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