Visa has reached a significant milestone in the evolution of AI-powered commerce, completing hundreds of secure, agent-initiated transactions in collaboration with partners across the global payments ecosystem.
The development marks a decisive shift from experimentation to real-world deployment, with the company signalling that 2025 will be the final year in which consumers routinely shop and check out unaided, ahead of widespread adoption of AI agent-driven payments in 2026.
The announcement builds on Visa’s broader push into agentic commerce, as AI tools increasingly influence how consumers discover, compare and purchase products. New research from Visa suggests that 47% of US shoppers now use AI tools for at least one part of the shopping journey, ranging from price comparison to personalised product recommendations. With AI-generated traffic accelerating across retail websites, Visa expects millions of consumers to rely on AI agents to complete purchases by the 2026 holiday season.
Visa said this momentum underpins its Visa Intelligent Commerce initiative, launched earlier this year and rooted in more than three decades of the company’s investment in AI for secure payments. The initiative is designed to enable personalised, AI-enabled commerce while maintaining the security and trust standards required for payments at scale.
Visa SVP, head of growth products & partnerships Rubail Birwadker said, “We are seeing impressive progress in how AI will transform commerce, with many real-world transactions completed by Visa’s deep network of partners. This holiday season marks the end of an era. In 2026, AI agents won’t just assist your shopping—they will complete your purchases, powered by Visa’s global scale, standards leadership, and unparalleled commitment to secure agentic commerce.”
Real-world deployments are already taking place through Visa’s collaboration with more than 100 partners globally. Over 30 partners are actively building within the Visa Intelligent Commerce sandbox, while more than 20 agents and agent enablers are integrating directly with the platform. These partnerships have delivered hundreds of controlled, agent-initiated transactions in live environments, demonstrating the feasibility of AI-driven purchasing for both consumer and B2B use cases.
In the US, early pilots are being led by partners including Skyfire, Nekuda, PayOS and Ramp. These initiatives range from AI-powered product recommendation agents completing consumer purchases through browser automation, to agent-driven fashion checkout experiences and automated B2B bill payments that allow businesses to capture cashback on card transactions.
Visa is also expanding Visa Intelligent Commerce internationally. Pilot programmes are expected to launch in Asia Pacific and Europe in early 2026, while markets across Latin America and the Caribbean are being prepared for AI-driven purchases over the coming year. In the Middle East, Visa is working with Aldar to enable customers in the UAE to use AI agents to pay recurring fees such as real estate service charges.
To support trusted adoption at scale, Visa is helping to establish standards for agentic transactions. In October 2025, the company introduced the Trusted Agent Protocol alongside more than 10 partners, enabling merchants to distinguish legitimate AI agents from malicious bots. Akamai has since joined the initiative, integrating its behavioural intelligence and bot protection capabilities to strengthen identity, authentication and fraud controls for agent-driven commerce.
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