Visa announced on Wednesday a partnership with leading AI chatbot developers to link their systems to Visa's payment network. The goal is to delegate personal budgeting tasks to AI bots, allowing users to set preferences and spending limits while the AI agents search for products and complete purchases. Partners include U. S. companies Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity, and France's Mistral, alongside IBM, Stripe, and Samsung. Pilot projects launched Wednesday, with broader rollout expected next year. The San Francisco-based payment processor envisions this futuristic idea becoming a convenient alternative for routine shopping. Over the last six months, Visa has collaborated with AI developers to tackle technical challenges, a crucial step before consumer launch. Visa’s support may aid emerging AI firms in competing with tech giants like Amazon and Google, which dominate e-commerce and are developing their own AI agents. Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, called this development potentially as transformational as the rise of e-commerce itself. While "agentic" AI is advancing, many applications remain experimental and not publicly available. Most are based on large language models—generative AI behind chatbots that can write emails, summarize, or code.

These AIs excel at recommending purchases but struggle with payment execution. Forestell noted that current AI agents often defer the final buying step back to users, saying, "OK, you go buy it. " Visa aims to provide AI agents with secure and trusted payment access, a challenge AI platforms alone cannot resolve. This initiative follows Visa’s recent changes to card operations in the U. S. , moving away from physical cards toward digital payments like Apple Pay. AI agents, upon verifying digital credentials, could act on a customer’s behalf with assurances to buyers, banks, and merchants that transactions are legitimate and disputes are managed by Visa. AI agents are expected to assist with tedious or complex tasks, such as grocery shopping, home improvement purchases, Christmas lists, or travel bookings. Forestell envisions agents "powering through" such errands automatically, but leaving more immersive shopping experiences, like luxury goods browsing, primarily to consumers, with AI providing background support. Regarding credit card debt—a significant concern given the $1. 21 trillion balance held by U. S. consumers—Forestell emphasized that users will impose clear spending limits on AI agents to maintain human control. Initially, agents may consult users before purchases (e. g. , an airplane ticket), with potential future autonomy allowing spending up to set caps without prior approval. AI developers are drawn to the partnership partly because, with user consent, AI agents can access extensive transaction histories, enabling personalized recommendations. Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, explained that knowing users’ past purchases helps tailor suggestions effectively. Perplexity's chatbot already books hotels and other purchases but remains in early AI commerce stages. Separately, Perplexity and OpenAI have indicated in federal court they might consider acquiring Google's Chrome browser if antitrust actions lead to Google's breakup, highlighting ongoing competitive dynamics in AI and digital markets.