Major payments and technology companies are racing to build the infrastructure for what they see as the next evolution of global commerce: artificial intelligence agents that can search, compare prices and make purchases on behalf of consumers. This trend is called “agent commerce” and reflects consumers’ growing reliance on chatbots for everyday tasks, including finding products and deals online. However, until recently, these tools did not serve a critical function. Shoppers could search and compare in a chatbot, but still had to exit the interface to complete a purchase. Payment giants like Visa and Mastercard say this is changing. Over the past year, both companies have raced to forge the systems and partnerships needed for this next stage of commerce, with initial pilots of the technology already underway. Payments executives told CNBC the technology will become a reality in 2026 and could be more transformative than the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. “A big shift in commerce occurred when payments moved from a primarily physical world to an e-commerce world,” said Sandeep Malhotra, Mastercard’s executive vice president for core payments in Asia Pacific. “Now we’re seeing the next transition, which is moving from the e-commerce world to an agent commerce world,” he said. “We moved from cash to digital, now we’re moving from digital to smart.” How it will work Although many details about how and where agent commerce works are still being worked out, the term generally refers to AI systems that act on users’ behalf to discover products, compare offers, and make payments within the chatbot. This could make shopping smoother by selecting options based on specific requests, instead of navigating multiple websites or apps in traditional e-commerce. When price discovery and ubiquitous shopping become the norm rather than the exception, it will be fascinating to see how businesses adapt. TR Ramachandran Payment, Visa’s head of products and solutions for APAC, says one of the first obvious use cases could be flight and holiday bookings. For example, a user can ask an AI sales agent: “Find me the cheapest red-eye flight from Singapore to Tokyo under $500 non-stop.” » The agent will then be able to scan, offer options, book tickets and pay using the payment information stored by the user, all within the chat interface. Mastercard’s Malhotra said the technology could also allow buyers to authorize agents to make purchases even when they are offline, such as automatically purchasing a product if its price drops below a predefined threshold. Early Pilots Visa and Mastercard have rolled out their initial frameworks for securing bot-driven transactions and have already completed pilot programs with selected users and merchants. TR Ramachandran, Visa’s head of products and solutions for APAC, told CNBC that commercial use of personalized and secure agent transactions could come as early as the first quarter of 2026. With more than half of Visa’s overall volume already through e-commerce and data showing demand for AI to assist with purchases, the ground is fertile for agent commerce, Ramachandran said. In December, a Visa survey found that nearly half of U.S. shoppers now use AI to improve their shopping experience, whether it’s finding gifts or comparing prices. Meanwhile, an Adobe study found that AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites increased 4,700% in July compared to the previous year. Agentic commerce transactions are expected to take place through AI platforms commonly used by consumers, such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, as well as through agents of merchants, banks and specific apps. Companies like Mastercard and Visa have worked closely with AI giants like OpenAI to prepare for this shift. OpenAI launched a “Buy it in ChatGPT” feature in September that allowed instant payments within its platform. Meanwhile, Perplexity partnered with PayPal and rolled out a free agent shopping product for US users in November. Worried about potential pricing pressures and loss of direct access to customers, large merchants are also testing agent commerce tools independently. Amazon began testing its “Buy For Me” earlier this year, while also working to prevent external AI agents from crawling its website. Potential Issues Despite its initial momentum, agent commerce still raises many potential issues regarding structure, security, and liability. A key focus of payment companies has been the creation of so-called “agent tokens,” which use cryptographic authentication to verify authorized AI agents from human users and distinguish them from malicious bots. For example, Visa launched its Trusted Agent Protocol in October with Cloudflare, creating cryptographically authenticated records for bot-initiated transactions. Ramachandran said Visa also plans to add “payment signals” for banks, providing more transaction details and strengthening agent authentication through behavioral intelligence. Another glaring issue is liability when AI agents make mistakes, such as buying the wrong color bike or booking a hotel room for the wrong night. Traditionally, disputes involved four parties: the consumer, the issuing bank, the acquiring bank and the merchant. “There is now a fifth player in the value chain: AI platforms that have moved into the value chain because customers want them,” Ramachandran said. “You almost have to assume that mistakes are going to happen and create guardrails and protection around that,” he added. These potential issues require stronger safeguards and authorizations, as well as robust dispute resolution systems, with these challenges still in the testing phase. Major impact Proponents say agent commerce will save time, reduce search costs and give consumers better access to information and deals. “I only see benefits from agent commerce. Consumers will have better access to information, better access to goods, better access to services and better experiences,” Malhotra added. Retailers, however, may face pressure to adapt as AI-powered price discovery and changing consumer behaviors become more common. “When price discovery and ubiquity of purchasing become the norm rather than the exception, it will be fascinating to see how businesses adapt,” said Visa’s Ramachandran. Payments executives expect merchants to implement agent verification, create their own AI agents to interact with consumer agents, offer loyalty programs, and rethink their upselling strategies. Despite the challenges and unknowns, payment companies say the shift toward agent commerce is inevitable. “As to exactly when this will gain momentum, that’s less clear,” Ramachandran said. “But based on our experience and overall adoption of the platform (large-scale language model), we’re probably talking months rather than years.”