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visa announced Thursday that it had successfully completed hundreds of AI transactions as part of a pilot program that launched after the company's product event in April.
The payments network and competitors across the fintech industry are racing to develop tools that allow consumers to task artificial intelligence agents to carry out specific transactions.
“This will be the year where we see tremendous material adoption and consumers start to really navigate a range of different agent environments,” Rubail Birwadker, head of growth products and partnerships at Visa, said in an interview.
AI is transforming the e-commerce experience for shoppers and changing the way customers buy and search for goods.
MasterCard announced in April that it was testing a feature called Agent Pay that allows AI agents to shop for customers online. Amazon began testing a “Buy For Me” offer that same month PayPal and Perplexity have joined forces on agent shopping tools. In early December, a Visa survey found that nearly half of U.S. shoppers use AI when shopping.
Although the data is limited, Birwadker said the tools could be useful for regular consumer purchases or events such as concert tickets.
Visa said it plans to launch pilot programs in Asia and Europe next year and is working with over 20 partners on AI agent tools.
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