Ant International and Card Giants Set AI Payment Standards

Ant International announced on Thursday that it has signed agreements with Visa and Mastercard to develop a common standard for payments executed by artificial intelligence agents. The partnership represents a strategic effort to establish a secure infrastructure for a growing sector of commerce, where software agents are increasingly tasked with making purchasing decisions on behalf of users and businesses.

According to projections cited in the announcement, AI agents are expected to manage between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in global consumer commerce by 2030. However, the rapid expansion of this technology brings significant risks, particularly regarding the potential for errors or hallucinations by these systems. The primary goal of the new collaboration is to mitigate these risks by creating a transparent and verifiable link between digital agents and their human owners.

Establishing Trust in Digital Agents

Jiang-Ming Yang, chief innovation officer at Ant International, emphasized that trust is the foundation of this transformation. He noted that because AI agents can sometimes behave unpredictably, consumers need assurance that their financial data is safe. The new framework focuses on a concept referred to as knowing your agent, which involves verifying the identity of the AI entity and assessing its behavioral patterns before it is authorized to process transactions.

This approach aims to solve a major interoperability problem currently facing the industry. Previously, different payment providers developed isolated protocols for secure AI payments. Under the new standard, an agent registered with one provider, such as Ant International, would not need to undergo separate registration processes with Visa or Mastercard. This reduction in friction is designed to make the adoption of agentic commerce smoother for both merchants and consumers.

Bridging Wallet and Card Systems

The collaboration is particularly significant because it bridges two distinct payment ecosystems. Visa and Mastercard dominate credit card transactions in developed economies, while Ant International’s Alipay Plus network is heavily used in developing markets through electronic wallets. Digital wallets have become a primary payment method, accounting for 56% of global e-commerce value in 2025. By unifying these systems, the companies are creating a pathway for AI agents to operate seamlessly across both card-based and wallet-based infrastructure.

Pablo Fourez, chief digital officer at Mastercard, stated that consistent frameworks are essential for scaling this technology. He highlighted the need for merchants to have a reliable way to recognize which AI agents are legitimate. Without such standards, the risk of fraudulent or erroneous transactions would likely increase as the number of autonomous purchasing agents grows.

Practical Applications of Autonomous Buying

The theoretical benefits of this partnership are already being tested in real-world scenarios. Alipay users can now set recurring instructions for their AI features to place routine orders, such as a daily iced coffee from Starbucks. The system handles the scheduling and order placement, prompting the user only for final payment approval. Similar functionality is available for ride-hailing services, demonstrating how AI agents are transitioning from experimental tools to practical assistants for daily life.

As reported by GN technics/ai (en-US), this shift signals a broader change in how consumers interact with commerce. While the technology offers convenience, it also introduces new vulnerabilities. The trade-off for users is that while they gain the efficiency of automated purchasing, they must rely on the security protocols established by these major players to protect their financial interests. The success of this standard will depend on its ability to balance ease of use with rigorous security controls.