In a move that appears straight out of a Black Mirror episode, Visa is planning to give Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots access to customers' credit cards to buy goods for them. After a user has set their preferences and budget, these AI agents will be able to find and buy clothes, groceries or an aeroplane ticket on their own, according to an Associated Press report.
Visa is partnering with a group of leading AI chatbot developers, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity and Mistral, to connect their AI systems to Visa's payment network.
"We think this could be really important. Transformational, on the order of magnitude of the advent of e-commerce itself," said Jack Forestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer.
"Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf. Visa is setting a new standard for a new era of commerce."
Dubbed the "Visa Intelligent Commerce" scheme, the company is also working on the initiative with IBM, online payment company Stripe, and phone-maker Samsung.
"Introducing Visa Intelligent Commerce, an initiative that will empower AI agents to deliver personalised and secure shopping experiences for consumers - at scale," the company stated.
"From browsing and selection to purchase and post-purchase management, this program will equip AI agents to seamlessly manage key phases of the shopping process."
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Previous instance
This is not the first instance when such an idea has been floated. Last month, Albert Saniger, the founder of AI shopping app Nate, was charged with fraud after it was revealed that the company relied on call centre employees from the Philippines to complete the purchases manually.
Saniger founded the app in 2018, raising over $50 million in funding from investors such as Coatue and Forerunner Ventures. He promoted his product to investors and the public as a "magic shopping app" that simplified online shopping as customers could buy items from any e-commerce site with a single tap using the Nate app.
Saniger claimed that the app took care of the rest of the checkout process, including billing and shipping information, using AI. However, as per the Department of Justice, the app's automation rate "was effectively zero per cent".
