Mastercard, Visa, Ant International launch AI agent trust framework

Mastercard, alongside Visa and Ant International, is working to establish common standards for identifying and verifying artificial intelligence agents that can conduct purchases on behalf of consumers. The initiative, announced on Thursday, aims to create a "Know-Your-Agent" interoperability framework. This framework would allow various payment entities, including card networks, digital wallets, and marketplaces, to recognize trusted AI agents across different payment ecosystems while maintaining their own approval and risk management processes.

The collaboration comes as the payments industry anticipates significant growth in agentic global consumer commerce, where AI agents will transition from making recommendations to executing purchases. The new framework will integrate existing protocols from the participating companies, such as Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Mastercard's Verifiable Intent. The companies stated that this initiative could lower integration costs and accelerate the rollout of new agentic services by enhancing trust and risk visibility across networks.

Mastercard has also introduced its Agent Connect platform, designed to link merchants with AI shopping agents for streamlined product discovery and payments. This platform allows businesses to leverage their existing product catalogs and pricing, while maintaining control over branding and customer relationships. Additionally, Mastercard's Agent Pay for Machines facilitates automatic, recurring transactions between software applications, supporting payments via card or stablecoin. This machine-payment initiative is backed by over 30 companies, including major players like Stripe, Coinbase, and Adyen.