Dive Brief:

• Merchant services provider Worldpay has launched a model protocol to facilitate agentic commerce driven by artificial intelligence, the payments processor announced Monday.
• The protocol is available to the public via the company’s own hub for software developers and on the independent Github, allowing developers and merchants to download, modify and deploy it. The processor won’t charge licensing fees or impose any proprietary restrictions on use, per the press release. 
• With the protocol, companies can create AI agents and enable direct payment integrations with Worldpay’s application programming interface, the announcement said.

Dive Insight:

Cincinnati-based Worldpay, which was sold to Global Payments this year, is offering its technology for free as consumers warm up to the prospect of agentic commerce. 

Nearly half (44%) of U.S. shoppers said they would use an AI bot to shop on their behalf, according to a Worldpay survey of 8,000 consumers in the U.S., the U.K., France and other countries released earlier this month. For now, shoppers are comfortable with using AI agents to make purchases valued at $50 or less, such as movie tickets (32%), meals for pickup or delivery (30%), health and beauty products (28%), meal vouchers and gift cards (28%) and subscriptions or memberships (27%), the survey results showed.

In its protocol announcement, Worldpay promoted the use of agentic AI capabilities as a way for companies to provide improved commerce experiences. 

“Agentic commerce is rapidly emerging as the next evolutionary step in online shopping,” Worldpay Chief Product Officer Cindy Turner said in the press release. “We’re answering the demand of developers and merchants, giving them the freedom to experiment, build and innovate in a controlled environment, while connecting directly to our global payment infrastructure.”

Worldpay has been preparing for the shift to agentic transactions. Seeking their adoption for consumer transactions marks a turning point for online merchants, Turner said in August.

Though consumers may be open to letting AI agents shop on their behalf, payment providers still have a key question: how should they address the mistakes AI makes? The topic arose among bank executives during this year’s Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas.

Mike Lozanoff, the global head of merchant services for JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank, pointed to gaps in understanding how the new type of commerce will work. “The rules are not fully formed yet,” Lozanoff said.