Visa to Allow AI Chatbots to Access Credit Cards

Visa is planning a significant shift in online shopping. The company intends to let AI chatbots access customers’ credit card information to make purchases autonomously. This move aims to streamline the buying process, allowing AI agents to independently shop for items like clothing, groceries, and travel tickets once users set their preferences and budgets.

To implement this, Visa is collaborating with prominent AI developers such as OpenAI and several others. The goal is to integrate these systems with Visa’s payment network.

Jack Forshell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, emphasized the importance of this development, comparing its impact to the rise of e-commerce. “Now, people will select, purchase, and manage shopping through AI agents. Visa is setting new standards for a new era,” he stated.

The initiative, known as “Visa Intelligent Commerce,” also involves partnerships with companies like IBM, Stripe, and Samsung. The aim is to create a tailored and secure shopping experience where AI agents can effectively manage all stages of the shopping journey.

Not a New Concept

This isn’t the first instance of such an approach. Recently, Albert Saniger, the founder of the AI shopping app Nate, faced fraud charges. The company was found to be using personnel from a Philippine call center to manually complete transactions, contradicting its claims of automation. Despite raising over $50 million from investors, Saniger’s app was promoted as a ‘magic shopping app,’ suggesting AI handled the checkout process—when in reality, it had an automation rate close to zero percent.