OpenAI and Visa are building a payment system for AI agents

Visa and OpenAI have announced a partnership to integrate Visa's payment infrastructure into OpenAI's agent systems. This will allow AI agents to purchase goods and pay for digital services independently on behalf of users. The core idea of the project is to shift from AI merely assisting in selection to a model capable of fully completing transactions. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

Users retain control over their funds: they can set spending limits, restrictions on merchant categories, and conditions requiring manual approval. Visa, in turn, provides financial infrastructure such as fraud detection, refunds, and chargeback resolution. The company is adapting its existing ecosystem for a new type of consumer — not a human, but their AI agent.

The partners plan to apply this system not only for simple purchases but also for corporate settlements and business expenses. For example, a developer agent could automatically pay for API requests, cloud computing, or other resources within set limits. OpenAI representative Marco Mahrus noted that AI is already influencing purchasing decisions, and this process will intensify in the future.

According to Visa, more than 20 percent of transactions today are indirectly shaped by AI recommendations. Rubail Birwadker, head of global growth at the company, stated that AI has already become a crucial link between the user and the purchase. Currently, the parties are working on creating a base infrastructure that can be used by various platforms.