AI shoppers are coming to a wallet near you

Ever felt overwhelmed by too many shopping choices or frustrated trying to score those impossible concert tickets? Soon your AI shopping agent will handle that for you. Visa's CEO Brian McInerney recently revealed a bold push into AI-powered commerce that could fundamentally change how we make purchases, turning high-friction shopping experiences into seamless transactions handled by intelligent agents that work on our behalf.

Key developments in Visa's AI commerce strategy:

• Visa is launching AI-enabled payment credentials that allow AI agents to make purchases for consumers while maintaining security and trust
• New control features will let users set spending limits, time boundaries, and merchant restrictions for their AI shopping agents
• Partnerships with major AI players including OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Perplexity, IBM, and Stripe are accelerating deployment with rollout expected "in months"

Why trust matters more than ever

The most compelling aspect of Visa's approach isn't just the technology itself but how it addresses the trust equation. McInerney repeatedly emphasized trust as the foundation of this new paradigm: consumers must trust their agents won't go rogue with their payment credentials; merchants need confidence they'll get paid; and financial institutions require assurance that delegated purchasing authority is legitimate.

This focus on trust isn't just good security practice—it's recognition that AI commerce requires a new model of digital identity. When your AI agent negotiates and completes transactions, it functions as an extension of you, creating complex questions about authorization, authentication, and liability. Visa's positioning as the trusted intermediary could solidify its central role in commerce for decades to come, even as traditional advertising and purchasing patterns get disrupted.

What Visa isn't telling you

While the vision is compelling, significant hurdles remain unaddressed. For one, the regulatory landscape for AI agents making financial decisions remains unclear. The European Union's AI Act and evolving US regulations will likely impact how these services can operate, particularly regarding consumer protections and transparency requirements. Companies rushing to market without regulatory clarity could face significant compliance costs later.

Another critical consideration is the potential for market concentration. If a handful of AI agents come to dominate shopping experiences, enormous power will shift to these intermediaries. Merchants already concerned about fees and platform dependency could find themselves further squeezed, especially