Visa Reports Progress in AI Payments as Automated Commerce Emerges

In Focus

• Visa AI Shopping Tool payments pilot completes hundreds of live transactions following April product event
• Visa advances Visa automated purchase tools that allow AI agents to automate consumer purchases
• Agentic commerce gains traction across payments, e-commerce, and fintech sectors
• Visa plans to expand Visa AI transactions pilot programs across Asia and Europe in 2026

Visa has confirmed the successful completion of hundreds of Visa AI-powered payment transactions as part of a Visa AI transactions pilot launched after its April 2025 product event, according to a report published by CNBC.

The development marks a significant milestone in Visa’s broader efforts to enable artificial intelligence agents to complete transactions on behalf of consumers, as payment companies increasingly adapt to shifts in digital commerce behavior driven by the Visa AI Shopping Tool strategy.

Visa AI Payments Pilot Signals Shift Toward Automated Transactions

Visa stated that the Visa AI transactions pilot involved hundreds of completed transactions, demonstrating early feasibility for Visa AI agent shopping payments and AI-assisted commerce at scale. The credit card issuer has been developing Visa automated purchase tools designed to allow consumers to delegate certain purchasing tasks to AI agents, particularly for routine or repeat transactions. Recently, Google has introduced a Google UPI-linked credit card India product to deepen its consumer finance footprint in the country’s digital payments ecosystem.

Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s head of growth products and partnerships, emphasized the pace of adoption in an interview cited by CNBC: “This is going to be the year we see an enormous amount of material adoption, and consumers really starting to get comfortable in a bunch of different agentic environments.”

According to Visa, these AI-driven tools, including its Visa AI Shopping Tool, may prove especially useful for predictable purchases or time-sensitive use cases, such as buying concert tickets or managing recurring consumer spending through Visa AI-powered payments.

At the end of this phase, the pilot shows

• Practical execution of AI-driven purchase flows using Visa AI agent shopping payments
• Consumer willingness to experiment with AI-assisted transactions enabled by the Visa AI Shopping Tool
• Early validation of secure, automated payment authorization through Visa automated purchase tools

How Major Platforms Are Advancing AI-Assisted Commerce Models

Visa’s progress comes amid broader industry movement toward agentic commerce, where AI systems actively search for, select, and purchase goods or services. Several major players have announced parallel initiatives in recent months, reinforcing momentum behind Visa AI-powered payments and broader AI payments adoption. In other news, UPI payments are getting faster, as NPCI asked banks to complete transactions within 10 seconds.

In April, Mastercard disclosed testing of a feature called Agent Pay, which enables AI agents to shop online on behalf of customers. During the same month, Amazon began testing a “Buy For Me” feature, while PayPal partnered with Perplexity to explore AI-driven shopping tools. These developments reflect a coordinated industry push to reshape how consumers discover and complete purchases online, aligning with Visa’s AI Shopping Tool roadmap.

Visa Prepares International Rollout Through Regional Pilot Programs

Building on its initial pilot, Visa confirmed plans to extend Visa AI transactions pilot testing into Asia and Europe next year. The company stated it is currently working with more than 20 partners on AI agent tools, reflecting a collaborative approach to scaling Visa AI agent shopping payments across regions.

The expansion strategy indicates Visa’s intent to assess how AI-driven transactions perform across different regulatory environments, consumer behaviors, and payment ecosystems. By engaging regional partners, Visa aims to adapt its Visa AI Shopping Tool and Visa AI-powered payments framework to local market requirements while maintaining consistency across its global network.