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Visa and Mastercard introduce AI assistants that can browse, choose, and buy products based on your preferences for a faster, smarter shopping experience.
The future of shopping just got a serious upgrade. Visa and Mastercard, two of the world’s most trusted names in payments, are rolling out a new era of AI-powered commerce — where your digital assistant can not only recommend what to buy, but actually make the purchase for you.
Visa announced the launch of “Intelligent Commerce” on Wednesday — a fresh approach that blends artificial intelligence with consumer personalization. In plain terms? AI agents that understand your preferences, help you shop smarter, and even complete the checkout process, all while keeping your spending within boundaries you set.
“Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest,” said Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer. “This is about using AI to create shopping experiences that feel natural, secure, and tailored just for you.”
Visa isn’t going it alone. It’s collaborating with a powerful network of partners — including OpenAI, Microsoft, Samsung, Anthropic, IBM, Stripe, Perplexity, and Mistral AI — to build tools that make AI shopping as easy as a swipe (or less).
Hot on Visa’s heels, Mastercard unveiled “Agent Pay” earlier this week. This new solution is designed to bring seamless shopping to conversational AI platforms. Imagine chatting with an AI about your birthday party plans and, within moments, it curates outfits, checks the weather, matches the vibe, and buys your top picks — all based on your unique tastes and budget.
Mastercard says this next wave of commerce, which it’s calling “agentic commerce,” is being developed with heavy-hitters like Microsoft, IBM, Braintree, and Checkout.com. Together, they aim to weave secure, intelligent payments directly into the AI interactions people are already using to explore and decide what to buy.
The momentum behind AI-powered shopping is building fast. PayPal just announced a similar agentic offering, and Amazon is testing its “Buy for Me” feature with select users. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are also exploring how agents can make online shopping less of a chore and more of a conversation.
Whether you’re planning a party, refreshing your wardrobe, or just checking off your weekly grocery list, your next shopping assistant might not be a person — but a smart, proactive AI that knows your style, understands your needs, and even picks the best way to pay.
The age of AI shopping has officially arrived. And with Visa and Mastercard leading the charge, it’s coming to a checkout screen near you — no cart required.
