Google Launches Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) for Secure AI-Driven Commerce

Google launches new protocol for agent-driven purchases | TechCrunch

On Tuesday, Google announced a new open protocol for purchases initiated by AI agents -- automated software programs that can shop and make decisions on behalf of users -- with backing from more than 60 merchants and financial institutions. Called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the system is meant to be interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and vendors, providing a traceable paper trail for each transaction. In a post announcing the protocol, Google executives emphasized their commitment to openness. "We are committed to evolving this protocol in an open, collaborative process, including through standards bodies, and invite the entire payments and technology community to build this future with us," wrote Stavan Parikh and Rao Surapaneni, who are VPs at Google and Google Cloud, respectively. The full specification for AP2 was posted to GitHub in conjunction with the announcement. The protocol is built for a future in which AI agents routinely shop for products on customers' behalf, and engage in complex real-time interactions with retailers' AI agents. One example in Google's post imagines a chatbot user asking their agent to shop for a bike trip, which triggers a spontaneous time-sensitive bundle offer from a bike shop's agent. In another example, a user asks for travel and lodging for a weekend vacation, giving only the dates, location and budget. "The agent can then interact with both airline and hotel agents, as well as online travel agencies and booking platforms," the post explains, "and once it finds a combination that fits the budget, it can execute both cryptographically-signed bookings simultaneously." Enabling that kind of transaction is complex, from both a technological and social standpoint. AP2 requires agents to register two separate approvals before a purchase can be made: first the "intent mandate" (essentially telling the AI, "I'm looking for a polka dot neck tie"), which enables the agent to search for a specific item and negotiate with sellers; then the "cart mandate," which gives final approval for a purchase once a specific item has been found. The protocol also contains a provision for fully automated purchases, in which the agent is permitted to automatically generate a cart mandate once an item is found. Those circumstances require a more detailed intent mandate, specifying price limits, timing, and other rules of engagement. In either case, the goal is to maintain an auditable trail that can be re-examined in cases of fraud. In collaboration with cryptocurrency outfits Coinbase, Metamask and the Ethereum foundation, Google also produced an extension that would integrate the cryptocurrency-oriented x402 protocol, allowing for AI-driven purchasing from crypto wallets. A number of other tech companies are working on their own agentic purchasing systems -- most notably Perplexity, which allows for a Buy With Pro service in its agentic browser. The payment provider Stripe also produces software tools for agentic purchasing on its platform, though they are not as comprehensive as AP2. Like any protocol, the impact of AP2 will depend on its support from other players in the ecosystem -- most notably, developers building agentic purchasing systems. But AP2 has already won the support of major financial providers like Mastercard, American Express and PayPal, giving the protocol a significant immediate footprint.

Google's new open protocol secures AI agent transactions - and 60 companies already support it

The protocol is launched with the support of more than 60 organizations. The next level of AI assistance in e-commerce is agent-led AI transactions, where your agent can place orders on your behalf, saving you time as a consumer and connecting your product to buyers if you're a merchant. Also: Gartner says add AI agents ASAP - or else. Oh, and they're also overhyped While the technology is promising, there are also security concerns because an agent has access to your payment details. To address those concerns, Google has launched its new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which the company describes as an "open protocol developed with leading payments and technology companies to securely initiate and transact agent-led payments across platforms." AP2 can be used as an extension of the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Similar to how MCP allows users to connect AI tools to their databases with confidence, the AP2 standard lets users, merchants, and payment providers transact with AI agents securely. Also: How Cisco plans to stop rogue AI agent attacks inside your network For example, Google said AP2, which helps verify that a user authorized an agent to act, validates to the merchant that the agent is performing the way the user requested, and, most importantly, helps identify accountability should the action not go according to plan, which is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to agents. Also: 5 ways to be a great AI agent manager, according to business leaders AP2 supports various payment types, including credit cards, stablecoins, and real-time bank transfers, which serve as a single standard that agents and merchants can rely on for all transactions. AP2 uses Mandates, which are tamper-proof, cryptographically signed digital contracts that contain proof of a user's intentions. Specifically, there is an Intent Mandate, where the user requests that the agent either find a product for them or purchase it on their behalf, and then a Cart Mandate, which allows the agent to carry out the transaction. Also: A whopping 30% of business leaders are comfortable taking orders from AI agents - are you? In real-time purchases with a user present, after issuing an Intent Mandate to look for the product, the approval of the purchase is signed as a Cart Mandate. Also: Your next job interviewer could be an AI agent - here's why that's a good thing In delegated tasks, where a human isn't present, the human signs a detailed Intent Mandate upfront, with the specific rules of the engagement, such as price limits, which pre-authorize the agent to generate a Cart Mandate when the conditions are met. In either case, the Cart Mandate involves the user securely linking their payment details. The AP2 launched with 60 organizations, including Accenture, Adobe, American Express, Coinbase, Confluent, Mastercard, Okta, PayPal, Salesforce, 1Password, and many more. Also: What are AI agents? How to access a team of personalized assistants For other organizations that want to get started, Google has made the technical specifications, documentation, and reference implementations available on its public GitHub repository, which will be updated regularly with additional reference implementations from the tech company.

Google's plan to build trust in AI agents as personal shoppers

Why it matters: Industry analysts expect consumers to rapidly embrace buying stuff with the help of AI -- but only if they can count on a chatbot doing exactly what they tell it to do. Driving the news: Google's new agent payments protocol, or AP2, extends existing standards -- like the agent to agent (A2A) and model context (MCP) protocols -- to e-commerce. * Google is assuming both consumers and merchants will use "multiple agents built by multiple vendors," Rao Surapaneni, VP of Google Cloud's business applications platform, told Axios. * All these agents will need to communicate in a reliable and trusted way. Between the lines: The new payments protocol is designed to be able to "prove that a user gave an agent the specific authority to make a particular purchase," "be sure that an agent's request accurately reflects the user's true intent," and "determine accountability if fraudulent or incorrect transaction occurs," according to a new Google blog post. * The goal is to "capture the intent of the buyer" in a reliable way in new kinds of transactions where the human user isn't present but is represented by an agent, Stavan Parikh, VP of payments at Google, told Axios. Zoom out: The U.S. payments system that has evolved around e-commerce is complex and dependent on a wide variety of powerful players, including Visa, Apple Pay, Amazon, Stripe, Square (now Block), Zelle and other bank-backed systems. Zoom in: Google says AP2 already has buy-in from more than 60 partners, including Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Coinbase, Etsy, Okta and Alibaba. Our thought bubble: An open standard backed by Google could rapidly spread, or face multiple challenges and rivals. * Single-standard systems offer convenience and interoperability, but ecosystems with multiple competing standards can be more resilient and adaptable. What they're saying: Google's success at bringing partners and competitors like Amazon and Microsoft along with its agent-to-agent protocol shows it understands an "open and collaborative environment" is the best way to build a new ecosystem, Surapaneni says. Flashback: In the early days of the web, users were reluctant to make purchases on new platforms until they could trust that the technology wouldn't run wild on them and that their credit card info and other personal data wouldn't be abused.

Google Launches Agent Payments Protocol to Standardise AI Transactions

The protocol, developed with more than 60 payments and technology companies, extends Google's existing Agent2Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) frameworks. Google on Wednesday announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard designed for AI agents to conduct secure and verifiable payments. The protocol, developed with more than 60 payments and technology companies, extends Google's existing Agent2Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) frameworks. Stavan Parikh, vice president and general manager of payments at Google, said the rise of autonomous agents requires a new foundation for trust. He added that AP2 establishes the foundation for authorization, authenticity, and accountability in agent-led transactions. "AP2 provides a trusted foundation to fuel a new era of AI-driven commerce. It establishes the core building blocks for secure transactions, creating clear opportunities for the industry-including networks, issuers, merchants, technology providers, and end users-to innovate on adjacent areas like seamless agent authorization and decentralized identity," Parikh said. Unlike traditional payment systems that assume a human directly initiates a purchase, AP2 addresses the challenges of proving intent and authority when an AI acts on a user's behalf. The framework uses cryptographically signed digital contracts called Mandates to serve as verifiable proof of a user's instructions. These can cover both real-time transactions, where a customer is present, and delegated tasks, such as buying concert tickets automatically under pre-approved conditions. Rao Surapaneni, vice president and general manager of business applications platform at Google Cloud, said the protocol provides secure, compliant transactions between agents and merchants while supporting multiple payment types, from cards to stablecoins. Google said AP2 will also support cryptocurrency payments through an extension called A2A x402, developed in partnership with Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation and MetaMask. This allows agents to handle stablecoin payments within the same framework. Industry players expressed support for the initiative. Luke Gebb, executive vice president of Amex Digital Labs, said the rise of AI commerce makes trust and accountability more important than ever, and AP2 is intended to protect customers. Coinbase head of engineering Erik Reppel said the inclusion of x402 showed that agent-to-agent payments aren't just an experiment anymore and are becoming part of how developers actually build. Adyen co-chief executive Ingo Uytdehaage said the protocol creates a "common rulebook" to ensure security and interoperability across the payments ecosystem. Backers include Mastercard, PayPal, Revolut, Salesforce, Worldpay, Accenture, Adobe, Deloitte and Dell, who said the framework could open up opportunities for secure agent-driven commerce ranging from consumer shopping to enterprise procurement. Google has published the technical specifications and reference implementations in a public GitHub repository and invited the wider payments and technology community to contribute to its development.

Google unveils Agent Payments Protocol to power AI commerce

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The tech giant has lined up more than 60 partners - including Adyen, Coinbase, Mastercard and PayPal - for the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). Agentic commerce breaks the assumption that today's payment systems generally make that a human is directly clicking "buy" during a transaction. Google says a protocol is needed to address this, providing the basis to prove that a user has authorised an agent to make a purchase; to enable a merchant to authenticate that the agent's request reflects the user's intent; and to determine accountability if a fraud or error occurs. AP2 is designed to be an open, shared protocol that provides a common language for secure, compliant transactions between agents and merchants, helping to prevent a fragmented ecosystem. It also supports different payment types - from credit and debit cards to stablecoins and real-time bank transfers. The protocol uses mandates - tamper-proof, cryptographically-signed digital contracts that serve as verifiable proof of a user's instructions. This, says Google, addresses the two primary ways a user will shop with an agent: real-time purchases where the human is present, and delegated tasks where the person is not present. Google has also worked with Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation, MetaMask and others on an A2A x402 extension, a production-ready offering specifically for agent-based crypto payments.

Google Debuts Agent Payments Protocol to Bolster AI Commerce | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. AP2 is designed to "securely initiate and transact agent-led payments across platforms," according to a Tuesday (Sept. 16) company blog post. Google is collaborating on agentic payments with more than 60 companies, some of which include Adyen, American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase and Revolut, per the post. "AI agents are capable of transacting on behalf of users, which creates a need to establish a common foundation to securely authenticate, validate and convey an agent's authority to transact," the post said. "While today's payment systems generally assume a human is directly clicking 'buy' on a trusted surface, the rise of autonomous agents and their ability to initiate a payment breaks this fundamental assumption and raises critical questions that AP2 helps to address." The questions are authorization, or proving that a user gave an agent authority to make a specific purchase; authenticity, or allowing merchants to be sure an agent's request reflects the user's intent; and accountability in cases of fraud or incorrect transactions, per the post. The protocol can be used as an extension of the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and Model Context Protocol (MCP). In conjunction with industry rules and standards, it offers a payment-agnostic framework for users, merchants and payments providers to transact across all types of payment methods, the post said. PYMNTS Intelligence's August edition of The Prompt Economy Tracker® Series explored the rise of MCP, an open standard that was introduced by Anthropic in late 2024 and has since been adopted by OpenAI, Microsoft and Visa. "MCP is the digital equivalent of USB-C for agents," the report said. "It defines how agents plug into data, invoke APIs, talk to other agents, and complete tasks securely and efficiently. This is the infrastructure that transforms agents from smart tools into autonomous actors inside the commerce ecosystem." Meanwhile, a July PYMNTS Intelligence report, "Payments Execs Say AI Agents Give Payments an Autonomous Overhaul," revealed that agentic AI could demand new infrastructure, trust frameworks and corporate oversight. AI agents require real-time, scalable, secure infrastructure, the report said. Legacy systems can't deal with thousands of concurrent autonomous agents acting on APIs, analyzing data and triggering actions across systems.