Mastercard Rolls Out AI Payment Option Amid Growing Competition
Mastercard has launched an AI payment option that allows cardholders to hand their virtual Mastercard to an artificial intelligence agent and authorize it to make online purchases without human approval. This feature, called 'agentic payments,' is built on top of the company's existing Agent Pay program.
The system uses 'agentic tokens,' dynamic credentials designed specifically for machine-initiated transactions. Each AI agent receives a one-time-use or session-limited credential, making it worthless if intercepted in subsequent transactions.
Cardholders can configure their agents to operate within specific parameters, such as setting spending caps and merchant restrictions. They can also require pre-checkout approval for certain purchases.
Visa is working on its own parallel infrastructure for AI-driven payments, having partnered with Alchemy and launched the Intelligent Commerce Connect platform. The two payment networks are collaborating with Ant International to establish frameworks for verifying and monitoring AI agents across different networks.