Visa announced on Thursday that it had successfully carried out hundreds of transactions using artificial intelligence as part of a pilot program that commenced following the company's product event in April. This effort is part of a larger trend among fintech companies striving to develop tools that enable consumers to use AI agents for completing specific transactions.
"This is going to be the year we see an enormous amount of material adoption, and consumers really starting to get comfortable in a bunch of different agentic environments," stated Rubail Birwadker, Visa's head of growth products and partnerships, in an interview.
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the e-commerce experience for shoppers by altering how customers browse for and purchase goods. In April, Mastercard began testing a feature called Agent Pay, which allows AI agents to shop online for customers. Amazon also initiated testing of a "Buy For Me" service in the same month, and companies like PayPal and Perplexity have been collaborating on agentic shopping tools. A survey conducted by Visa earlier in December found that nearly half of U.S. shoppers are using AI in their purchasing processes.
While the available data is still limited, Birwadker noted that these AI tools could be particularly beneficial for routine purchases or special events like concert ticket sales.
Visa plans to extend its pilot programs to Asia and Europe next year and is collaborating with over 20 partners on developing AI agent tools.
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