Visa has teamed up with AI industry leaders including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, Stripe and more to advance AI-assisted shopping through Visa Intelligent Commerce. The service lets people delegate shopping task to AI with confidence, knowing that the transaction can be performed in a safe and secure way, within their authorised parameters.
Alan Machet, Visa’s Group Country Manager for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, said Visa Intelligent Commerce is enabling the next frontier in shopping.
“Just like the shift from in-store to online and then mobile shopping, AI commerce is the future of shopping. AI-based agents will use an individual’s personal parameters to browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf, automating every day or occasional purchases, securely,” he said.
Today, 42% of Australians trust AI to provide product recommendations, but while AI has helped consumers find what they’re looking for, the final step of purchasing still gives people pause. Businesses expect that to change though, with a recent survey demonstrating Australians are embracing AI shopping, with one in four comfortable sharing personal data if it improves their overall experience.
A “game changer” for Australian businesses
Today, generative AI is helping shoppers research products, uncover new recommendations and find inspiration, with small businesses already taking steps to make their products and services discoverable in those highly personalised searches.
The partnerships announced by Visa today is just the beginning, as small and medium businesses begin to adapt their online presence through AI agents.
“Small to medium businesses are time poor, despite needing to meet customer experience expectations set by larger rivals,” said Head of Client Engagement for Visa Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Ivana Tranchini.
“Emerging technologies such as AI commerce will help level the playing field, allowing businesses of all sizes to show up more prominently in the purchase process than they might in traditional search today.
“Payment is that final step which can be a hurdle to completing a sale if consumers don’t feel safe or confident in the retailer or the overall payment experience – Visa Intelligent Commerce helps to close that gap,” she said.
Intelligent commerce
Visa Intelligent Commerce keeps payment information safe, replacing consumers’ card details with a digital token that can only be unlocked by Visa. It allows people to set spending limits and conditions for automated AI agent transactions and choose their preferred level of personalisation to boost results.
The solution is focused on connecting more buyers and sellers through seamless, secure digital payments, while providing a simple way for partners to access the Visa network and make the future of shopping a reality for everyday consumers and businesses.
Visa Intelligent Commerce offers:
- AI-Ready Cards: Replaces card details with tokenised digital credentials, enhancing security for consumers and simplifying payment processes for developers. Confirms that a consumer’s chosen agent is allowed to act on that consumer’s behalf. This brings identity verification to AI commerce. Only the consumer can instruct the agent on what to do and when to activate a payment credential.
- AI-Powered Personalisation: Shares basic spend and purchase insights with consumer consent to improve agent performance and personalise shopping recommendations.
- Simple and Secure AI Payments: Allows consumers to easily set spending limits and conditions, providing clear guidelines for agent transactions. Shares commerce signals in real-time with Visa, enabling Visa to effect transaction controls and help to manage disputes.
“Visa’s security capabilities helped Australian businesses prevent $714 million from fraud over a 12-month period,” said Mr Machet.
“Visa’s advanced technology plays a critical role in keeping payments safe, seamless, and trustworthy, especially as newer technologies such as AI commerce change the way people interact and transact.”
