Visa Launches Intelligent Commerce Platform Partnering With Major AI Companies

Visa $V ( ▲ 1.77% ) unveiled its new "Intelligent Commerce" platform today, partnering with leading AI companies like Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 2.52% ) , OpenAI, Anthropic, and others to enable AI-powered shopping experiences that promise to streamline how consumers find and purchase products online^1,^8.

The new initiative, announced on April 30, 2025, at Visa's Global Product Drop, opens Visa's payment network to developers building AI agents capable of completing entire shopping journeys-from product search to payment-while maintaining security and user control^2,^3.

The Birth of AI-Powered Shopping Assistants

Visa's new platform aims to solve one of e-commerce's persistent challenges: cart abandonment.

A 2020 Experian report found that one-third of online shoppers will wait only 30 seconds or less before abandoning a transaction^1. By letting AI handle routine shopping tasks, Visa believes it can significantly reduce friction in the buying process.

The concept works by allowing users to delegate shopping tasks to AI agents while maintaining control over spending limits. These AI assistants can search for products, book travel, order groceries, and complete purchases based on pre-established parameters^8,^11.

How Visa Intelligent Commerce Works:

1. Users upload existing Visa credentials
2. Visa authenticates cardholders with payment passkeys
3. Card details are tokenized for security
4. AI agents can then search and complete purchases within user-defined spending limits
5. Users retain final decision-making authority

Jack Forestell, Visa's Chief Product and Strategy Officer, explained the significance of this shift, comparing it to previous transformations from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile^2.

This marks another evolutionary step in commerce, allowing AI agents to browse, select, purchase, and manage transactions on behalf of consumers based on pre-selected preferences^11.

Market Context: The Rise of AI in E-Commerce

This launch comes amid explosive growth in the AI agents market.

According to recent projections, the global AI agents in eCommerce market is expected to grow from $3.6 billion in 2024 to a staggering $282.6 billion by 2034, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54.7%^5.

North America currently dominates this space, holding 38.5% of the global market share, with the U.S. market alone expected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2024 to $71.0 billion by 2034^5.

The Boston Consulting Group's analysis projects the overall AI agent market will grow at an average annual rate of 45% from 2024 to 2030^1,^8, demonstrating the growing importance of these technologies in the digital economy.

Technical Innovations Behind the Platform

At the core of Visa's new offering is what the company calls an "AI-ready card"-a credential that developers can create through Visa's APIs^10.

This system authenticates cardholders using payment passkeys, tokenizes the 16-digit card number, and securely embeds the token within the AI agent's system.

Visa Intelligent Commerce includes three key components^3:

1. AI-ready credit cards that replace traditional card details with tokenized digital credentials

2. AI-powered personalization that shares basic spending insights (with user consent) to improve agent performance

3. AI payments that enable agents to complete transactions within user-defined guidelines

Technical Components of Visa Intelligent Commerce:
- Suite of integrated APIs for developers
- Commercial partner program for AI platforms
- Tokenization and authentication APIs
- Secure transaction processing
- Fraud management systems

The platform builds on Visa's three decades of experience using AI and machine learning for risk management and fraud prevention, extending those capabilities to this new commerce paradigm^2.

Strategic Partnerships Driving Adoption

Visa has assembled an impressive roster of technology partners for this initiative, including many of the world's leading AI companies^1,^3:

These partnerships indicate the seriousness of Visa's approach and suggest potential for widespread adoption across various AI ecosystems.

The collaboration with both established tech giants and emerging AI specialists creates a diverse ecosystem for implementing these new commerce capabilities^11.

Impact on the Shopping Experience

The implications for consumers and merchants are significant.

For shoppers, AI agents could eliminate many tedious aspects of online shopping-comparing prices, reading reviews, and managing checkout processes-while still allowing final decision authority over purchases^3.

For merchants, this could mean higher conversion rates as the gap between product discovery and purchase narrows. E-commerce businesses have long sought to minimize the time between product selection and payment completion, and this technology directly addresses that challenge^1.

Potential Consumer Benefits:
- Reduced time spent comparison shopping
- Personalized product recommendations
- Automated routine purchases (groceries, subscriptions)
- Simplified travel booking
- Streamlined checkout process
- User-controlled spending limits

Industry experts predict that by the end of 2025, AI assistants could handle up to 20% of all e-commerce tasks, from product recommendations to customer service^9.

This aligns with Visa's vision of AI agents becoming trusted intermediaries in the shopping process.

Security and Trust Considerations

Security remains paramount in this new AI-powered shopping landscape.

Visa's approach emphasizes tokenization-replacing sensitive card details with unique identifiers-to protect consumer financial information when AI agents make purchases^3,^11.

The company also highlights the importance of user control, stressing that while AI agents can handle routine tasks, consumers maintain final decision-making authority and set specific spending limits^1,^8.

This balance between convenience and control will likely be crucial for consumer adoption. A system that makes shopping easier while maintaining security and personal oversight addresses the primary concerns consumers typically have about automating financial transactions.

Market Competition and Parallel Developments

Visa isn't alone in recognizing the potential of AI-powered shopping.

Just one day before Visa's announcement, Mastercard $MA ( ▲ 2.22% ) revealed its own "Agent Pay" program, also designed to enable secure agent-based AI payments^3.

Mastercard's initiative similarly introduces tokens for AI agents and includes a partnership with Microsoft to develop new use cases.

This competitive landscape suggests we're witnessing the early stages of a significant shift in how payment networks adapt to AI-driven commerce, with major financial institutions racing to establish themselves in this emerging space.

Looking Ahead: The Future of AI in Commerce

The introduction of Visa Intelligent Commerce represents a significant milestone in the evolution of online shopping, but it's just the beginning of a broader transformation.

As AI technologies continue to advance and consumer comfort with AI assistants grows, we can expect to see increasingly sophisticated shopping experiences emerge.

Industry forecasts suggest AI will fundamentally reshape retail in coming years.

According to experts cited by PYMNTS, AI-driven personalization will become remarkably prescient, potentially predicting consumer needs before they're even articulated^9.

Some projections indicate AI could help retailers reduce inventory costs by up to 10% through improved demand forecasting.

Future AI Commerce Capabilities:
- Predictive shopping based on consumer behavior patterns
- Highly personalized discounts and return policies
- Cross-platform shopping assistants
- Integrated budget management
- Automated price tracking and deal alerts

However, challenges remain. The rise of AI tools has also made it easier for fraudsters to create convincing scams, with experts warning that fraud will continue to escalate in 2025.

Regulatory frameworks are still catching up, with the European Union preparing new AI rules while U.S. states develop their own regulations^9.

Final Thoughts: A New Era of Commerce

Visa's partnership with major AI companies to launch Intelligent Commerce marks a significant evolution in how consumers shop online.

By enabling AI agents to handle the entire shopping journey while maintaining user control over spending and decisions, Visa is positioning itself at the forefront of what could become the next standard in digital commerce.

With the AI agents in eCommerce market projected to grow at a CAGR of 54.7% over the next decade^5, this move represents not just a new product launch but a strategic positioning in a rapidly expanding market sector.

For investors and companies watching this space, the key takeaway is clear: AI-powered shopping assistants aren't just a novelty, they're rapidly becoming an integral part of the digital commerce landscape, with major financial institutions and tech companies investing heavily in their development and adoption.