Mastercard Unveils ‘Agent Pay’: Revolutionizing AI-Driven Commerce
Mastercard has unveiled its latest innovation, Agent Pay, a transformative program aimed at integrating payments into AI-driven commerce experiences. This new initiative is designed to facilitate secure and seamless transactions through the use of generative AI agents across various consumer and business platforms.
What is Mastercard Agent Pay?
Agent Pay introduces the concept of “agentic tokens,” which enhance Mastercard’s existing tokenization technology utilized in contactless payments, card-on-file solutions, and digital credentials such as Mastercard Payment Passkeys. These tokens are engineered to enable AI agents to execute transactions securely on behalf of users, all while ensuring transparency and user control.
Collaborations with Tech Giants
To expand the potential of Agent Pay, Mastercard is partnering with leading tech companies:
- Microsoft: Exploring new use cases by leveraging Microsoft’s AI technologies, including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot Studio.
- IBM: Collaborating with IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate to support B2B applications.
- Payment Processors: Teaming up with processors like Braintree and Checkout.com to enhance tokenization features for safer AI-initiated payments.
Benefits for Consumers and Businesses
Mastercard’s Agent Pay program aims to provide multiple benefits:
- Consumers can utilize AI agents for making purchases and receiving personalized recommendations.
- Businesses can automate essential tasks such as sourcing, payments, and logistics through virtual card tokens.
Enhancing Retailer Capabilities
Retailers will be able to recognize transactions facilitated by agents and offer relevant promotions based on Mastercard’s robust authentication and tokenization systems. The program is designed with safeguards that register and verify trusted AI agents, ensuring consumer authorization while also resolving unfamiliar transactions.
Commitment to Responsible AI Development
Mastercard emphasizes that these initiatives are rooted in a commitment to responsible AI development. Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, stated:
“The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our initial steps in redefining commerce in the AI era, including new merchant interfaces to distinguish trusted agents from bad actors using agentic technology. Recognizing the seismic implications of this evolution, we are keen to collaborate with industry players to advance the standards for agentic payments, such as applying the Model Context Protocol to Secure Remote Commerce. This lays the foundation for scale and builds trust in agentic commerce.”
For more detailed insights into the future of payments and AI, visit Fintech News Singapore.
