Visa Inc. says autonomous shopping and payments are moving out of the lab and into commercial use at checkout, announcing it has successfully completed hundreds of secure, AI agent-initiated transactions with partners across its network.

The company says the 2025 holiday season may mark the end of traditional checkout for many consumers, as it expects AI-driven purchasing to scale in 2026.

The development reflects a shift in how shoppers browse and buy online. Nearly half of U.S. consumers — 47% — now use AI for at least one shopping task, including price comparisons and product recommendations, according to Visa research conducted with Morning Consult in October. Visa expects millions of agent-completed purchases by the 2026 holiday season as AI-generated traffic accelerates.

“We are seeing impressive progress in how AI will transform commerce, with many real-world transactions completed by Visa’s deep network of partners,” said Rubail Birwadker, senior vice president and head of growth products and partnerships at Visa. “In 2026, AI agents won’t just assist your shopping — they will complete your purchases.”

Visa sees partnerships accelerate AI checkout

Visa says more than 100 partners are building against its Visa Intelligent Commerce platform, which standardizes and secures agent-driven payments. Over 30 are working within a dedicated sandbox, while more than 20 agents or “agent enablers” are integrating directly.

Pilot activity is already producing real-world transactions in controlled environments:

• Skyfire enabled Consumer Reports’ product recommendation agent to buy Bose headphones through browser automation.
• Nekuda supported single-tap purchases on fashion apps, connecting AI-styled looks directly to brands such as Fabrique and Honeylove via Rye’s checkout API and Price.com.
• PayOS provided the infrastructure for AI-driven checkout on BeyondStyle at Jomashop.
• Ramp applied Visa Intelligent Commerce to automate B2B bill payments, including the capture of cashback on card transactions.

The pilots show how AI agents could compress retail journeys and reduce manual steps in corporate procurement, pointing to broader changes in consumer checkout and back-office payments.

Visa is preparing more markets for agentic commerce. Launches are planned in Asia-Pacific and Europe in early 2026. Readiness work is underway in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on enabling AI-driven purchases at leading merchants. In the Middle East, Visa is working with Aldar in the United Arab Emirates to let agents pay recurring real estate service charges.

Fraud prevention framework for AI agents

At the same time, Visa is pushing for technical standards to manage fraud and identity risk. In October, Visa and more than 10 partners debuted the Trusted Agent Protocol, an open framework designed to help merchants distinguish between malicious bots and legitimate AI agents acting with consumer authorization. Akamai has joined the initiative, adding edge-based behavioral intelligence and bot detection.

Visa says the goal is to build a shared architecture that allows merchants to accept autonomous transactions without compromising security.

Visa’s milestone indicates the payments industry is moving toward infrastructure that supports autonomous purchasing on behalf of consumers and businesses. As AI agents drive more shopping sessions and procurement workflows, merchants, banks and fraud systems will need to authenticate new types of traffic and transactions at scale.

The company’s bet is that standards, identity controls and early pilot results will give merchants confidence to let authorized AI agents into their storefronts — and give consumers the option to let software not just recommend products but complete the checkout.

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