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An AI agent should not be given an unrestricted card number and left to make its own decisions at checkout. In Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the user’s trusted surface records consent in a signed mandate; the agent presents that authorization, and a verifier checks whether the proposed purchase fits its scope. Merchants can separately verify that the agent’s request is signed and intended for commerce. These checks address different risks: a recognized agent is not automatically authorized to buy a particular item, at a particular price, for a particular user.
AP2 version 0.2 describes one way to connect user consent, purchase details, payment credentials and receipts. Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol addresses a related but distinct problem: helping merchants recognize and validate agent requests. Neither initiative, on the available evidence, should be treated as proof that every merchant or payment provider already supports a universal agent-payment standard.
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An AI agent payment is a purchase in which software selects or requests something on a user’s behalf and a payment system checks the authority behind that action before releasing payment. The key issue is not simply whether the agent can reach a checkout page. It is whether the user gave it specific, bounded permission to make this purchase.
That distinction matters because possession of a payment credential is not the same as permission to use it for any item, merchant or amount. A safer design represents consent as evidence that can be checked at the time of the transaction. The agent can act within that authority, while a verifier can reject a request that falls outside it.
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Google announced AP2 on September 16, 2025, and said more than 60 organizations were collaborating on the effort. AP2 is designed to work across cards, stablecoins and real-time bank transfers. Those design goals and the reported collaboration describe an ecosystem effort; they do not establish that all of those payment methods or a common agent checkout are available at every merchant.
How does an AI agent payment work from permission to receipt?
In AP2, a purchase involves separate evidence for the user’s delegation and for the particular action. The user first authorizes the agent within a defined scope. Later, a verifier checks that the specific proposed purchase is covered before payment proceeds.
The five roles in AP2
AP2 version 0.2 defines five operational roles. One organization or product could potentially perform more than one role in an implementation, but the protocol separates their responsibilities:
- Trusted surface: The place where the user gives informed consent and creates a signed mandate. It is the user-facing point for defining what the agent may do.
- Shopping agent: The software that looks for a product or service and initiates a purchase request within the delegated scope.
- Merchant: The seller that provides the goods or service and handles the order.
- Credential provider: The party that supplies or manages payment credentials. It must establish whether a credential can be released for the authorized transaction.
- Merchant payment processor: The payment-side service involved in processing the merchant’s transaction.
What gets checked
The protocol distinguishes a user’s broad delegation from approval of a concrete action. The mandate records authority granted by the user; action authorization is the verifier’s check that the evidence applies to the request being made. AP2 defines checkout and payment mandates, along with receipts, to help establish what was authorized, what was bought and how payment credentials were released.
For example, imagine a user authorizes an agent to buy a particular type of household item from an allowed merchant, below a stated price, before a set expiry, with no additional cart confirmation required under that limit. The agent’s proposed cart and amount still have to fit the authorization. The example illustrates how the constraints can work; it is not a claim about a particular merchant’s implementation.
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How can spending limits and merchant restrictions stop overspending?
A spending limit is useful only if it is enforced against the purchase amount before payment, not merely shown to the user as a preference. In AP2’s example flow, the user’s signed intent can include permitted merchants, a price or spending limit, timing, refundability and whether cart confirmation is required.
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What a useful spending policy should specify
When setting a delegated task, a user or manager should make the boundaries understandable and checkable. Depending on the supported implementation, relevant conditions include:
- Merchant: Which seller or sellers are allowed? A merchant restriction is more precise than permission to buy from any seller the agent finds.
- Amount: What is the maximum the user is willing to authorize? The policy should be checked against the cart and amount that will actually be paid.
- Time: When does the authorization expire? An expiry limits how long the delegation remains usable.
- Cart confirmation: Should the user approve the cart, or may the agent proceed automatically when all conditions are met?
- Refundability: Does the task permit only purchases with specified refund terms? A permission that includes refundability conditions should not be treated as approval for a nonrefundable purchase.
These constraints answer different questions. A price ceiling does not identify an approved seller; an approved merchant does not set a price ceiling; and an expiry does not confirm that a particular cart is acceptable. A robust authorization has to be checked against all applicable conditions, not just one.
How does a merchant verify that an AI agent is legitimate?
A merchant needs evidence about the incoming agent request, but agent identity alone cannot prove that the user approved the requested purchase. Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol addresses merchant recognition using linked, verifiable, purpose-identifying, time-based signed credentials sent in request headers or bodies. A merchant can validate the agent signature, determine whether the request carries commerce intent, and use that result to control, limit or complement the interaction.
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Visa describes two practical stages. During browsing, an agent retrieves product, inventory, shipping and final-cost information. During payment, it supplies information needed to buy or obtain paid access. This distinction is useful: a request to read product information is not the same as a request to complete a paid transaction.
Three checks that should not be conflated
- Agent identity and signature: Is the request signed by an agent identity that the merchant can validate, and does its credential indicate the relevant purpose and time validity?
- User or device identity, when supplied: Is there identity evidence connecting the request to the relevant user or device? This is a separate question from whether the agent itself is recognized.
- Purchase authority: Is there a mandate or payment container showing that this specific cart and amount are authorized?
A valid agent signature can help show who sent a request and what kind of request it is. It does not, by itself, show that a user approved the item, price or seller. Conversely, a user mandate does not automatically establish that a merchant can trust the agent’s identity. The merchant, credential provider and processor may have distinct verification responsibilities.
How are AP2 and Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol different?
AP2 focuses on representing delegated user authorization and purchase evidence; Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol focuses on signed agent requests and merchant recognition. They are complementary efforts, not interchangeable names for one proven universal system. Their specifications point to different artifacts and verification questions.
| Comparison point | AP2 | Visa Trusted Agent Protocol |
|---|---|---|
| Main evidence described | Signed user intent, checkout and payment mandates, and receipts; AP2 version 0.2. | Linked, verifiable, purpose-identifying, time-based signed credentials carried in request headers or bodies. |
| Main question addressed | Did the user authorize this agent and this particular purchase within the mandate’s scope? | Can the merchant validate the agent request and determine whether it carries commerce intent? |
| Verification participants | AP2 defines a trusted surface, shopping agent, credential provider, merchant and merchant payment processor. | Merchant specifications describe a merchant validating signed agent information; the details of a specific deployment determine the full set of participants. |
| Constraints or purpose | The described intent can include merchant, amount, expiry, refundability and cart-confirmation conditions. | Credentials identify the request’s purpose and are time-based; the cited description does not establish the same cart-and-amount mandate model. |
| Payment methods | Designed to work across cards, stablecoins and real-time bank transfers. | Payment-method coverage is not stated in the cited description. |
| Receipts and dispute evidence | Checkout and payment receipts are part of AP2’s evidence flow. | Receipt and dispute-evidence details are not stated in the cited description. |
| Deployment and ecosystem status | Google announced AP2 on September 16, 2025, reporting collaboration with more than 60 organizations. That announcement does not establish universal production adoption. | Visa publishes a separate merchant protocol specification. The cited description does not establish universal merchant adoption. |
The practical takeaway is that a merchant-recognition protocol and a purchase-authorization protocol can address separate gaps. An implementation may need evidence for both: the merchant needs to assess the agent request, while the payment flow needs to establish the user’s authority for the particular transaction.
What do payment receipts prove, and what do they not prove?
AP2 uses receipts to close the flow with an audit trail. Merchants and payment processors can retain signed checkout and payment evidence, helping document what the user authorized, what was purchased and how payment credentials were released. That record can support later review of a transaction or a dispute about what happened.
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A receipt is evidence, not a guarantee that a purchase was wise, that a product will meet expectations, or that a refund will be granted. It also cannot repair an authorization policy that was too broad. For accountability, the record needs to be connected to the mandate and the actual transaction rather than treated as a standalone proof that every decision was appropriate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What security controls are still needed around agent payments?
A mandate and a signed request do not replace the surrounding security and compliance controls. OWASP’s listed controls for AI-agent payment systems include identity screening, sanctions checks, signed audit trails, fail-closed enforcement, rate limiting and canonicalized receipts. Regulated obligations still apply when an agent initiates a transaction.
- Identity screening and sanctions checks address risks that are not answered by a valid agent signature alone.
- Fail-closed enforcement means a verifier should not treat missing, invalid or unverifiable authorization evidence as permission to proceed.
- Rate limiting can constrain repeated requests, even when each request appears to fit a policy.
- Signed audit trails and canonicalized receipts help preserve consistent, reviewable evidence of the transaction and its authorization.
- Applicable regulated obligations remain relevant; delegating a purchase to software does not make them disappear.
These controls are complementary. A spending limit can constrain the amount of one purchase, while rate limiting addresses repeated activity. A signed trail can preserve evidence, while screening checks different identity and compliance concerns. No single check establishes that every part of the transaction is safe.
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Who is responsible if an agent buys the wrong thing?
Responsibility cannot be determined from the fact that an AI agent placed the order alone. It depends on the authorization that was actually given, the purchase request, the evidence retained by the relevant parties, and the applicable merchant and payment rules. AP2’s mandates and receipts are designed to make the authorization and transaction more auditable; the available protocol descriptions do not establish a universal liability rule or guarantee a particular dispute outcome.
For a specific transaction, the useful questions are factual: What did the user authorize? Did the cart and amount fit the mandate? Was a required confirmation obtained? What did the merchant and processor receive and retain? Those details can help explain a dispute, but they do not substitute for the terms and procedures that apply to the purchase.
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What should users look for before allowing an agent to pay?
Before delegating a purchase, look for controls that make the permission understandable and bounded rather than a general instruction to spend from an account. A user-facing flow should make it possible to determine what is permitted, what requires confirmation and what evidence will be kept.
- Check whether the authorization names permitted merchants, an amount limit and an expiry.
- Understand whether the agent can approve a cart automatically within those bounds or must stop for confirmation.
- Check whether refundability or other purchase conditions are represented in the authorization.
- Look for a clear record connecting the approved mandate to the final cart, amount and receipt.
- Do not treat a merchant’s ability to recognize an agent as proof that the user approved the transaction.
Availability will depend on the particular agent, merchant, credential provider and processor. Google’s AP2 announcement and Visa’s separate protocol are evidence of active protocol work, not a promise that a given checkout already exposes these controls or supports every payment method.
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Can an AI agent see or store my full card number?
The AP2 description separates the agent’s purchase request from the release of payment credentials by a credential provider. It does not establish exactly what data an agent sees in every implementation, so users should check the specific service’s credential-handling and privacy terms.
Can I get a refund if an agent makes a purchase I regret?
A signed receipt can help establish what was authorized and purchased, but it does not create a refund right by itself. Refund eligibility still depends on the seller’s terms and the rules applicable to the transaction.
Does a signed agent credential prove the agent is safe?
It can help a merchant validate an agent’s identity, signature and stated request purpose. It is not a general safety certification and does not prove that the requested purchase is in the user’s interest.
Are AI agent payments already accepted everywhere?
No universal acceptance follows from either protocol description. Support depends on the participating agent, merchant and payment services, and the protocol announcements do not establish coverage at every checkout.
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