AI-enabled commerce coming soon to digital store near you
Imagine this: You ask the virtual assistant on your artificial intelligence platform—say, ChatGPT —to look for the cheapest tickets for your next European vacation, search for hotels that will fit your budget and then book your dream tours.
Through the power of AI, those options appear in a matter of seconds. All that is left to complete the loop is to pay for the tickets, the hotels and the tours.
But that’s where the fun ends, as currently, payments cannot be done through the AI platform. The function simply is not there yet.
But that will not be the case for long as Visa, a global leader in digital payments, has launched its Visa Intelligence Commerce, a new program that opens Visa’s extensive payments network to developers and engineers building the first generation of AI-powered commerce in Asia Pacific.
Visa revealed during the Visa Asia Pacific media showcase held last month in Singapore that it was in discussions with Ant International, Grab and Tencent to grow AI commerce by enabling a secure and seamless checkout experience.
Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitization and financial technology provider and a key partner of Globe Telecom for unicorn Gcash. Grab, meanwhile, is Southeast Asia’s leading super app for ride-hailing, food delivery, digital payments and financial services across eight markets including the Philippines.
Tencent, on the other hand, is a multinational technology leader that develops a wide range of digital products and services, including WeChat, China’s super app. Tencent partly owns Voyager Innovations, which owns digital financial services platform Maya.
Jack Forestell, Visa Chief Product and Strategy Officer, said in a briefing that Asia was a “hotbed” for innovation thus it was logical for Visa to pursue the partnerships that will enable developers to deploy Visa’s artificial intelligence-powered commerce capabilities securely and at scale.
“Combining the strength of our global network with our leadership in payment innovation here in Asia Pacific, we are bringing new products and solutions that will transform commerce and deliver trust and security to AI-enabled payments across the region.”
Visa pointed out during the showcase that AI-enabled digital commerce would “significantly change the way that consumers will discover and purchase products and services across the region.
“In the near future, AI agents will browse, select, purchase and manage transactions on behalf of users, making trust in payments more important than ever,” said Visa, thus the move to offer regional partners including AI platforms, fintechs, banks and merchants a way to connect to the Visa network to deliver secure and seamless payment experiences.
Since the partnerships are in their initial stages, it will take some more time before consumers will actually get to enjoy that seamless experience. But it will come sooner rather than later as the consumer demand is there for more ease of use and payment convenience.
T.R. Ramachandran, Visa head of Products and Solutions, Asia Pacific, pointed out that global commerce continues to evolve rapidly and Visa is staying ahead of the curve by delivering innovations that will enable the future of commerce across the region including the Philippines.
“We believe AI agents will play a growing role in commerce, from handling routine purchases such as ordering food, to more complex purchases such as securing event tickets or making travel reservations,” added Ramachandran, “By combining AI capabilities with Visa’s trusted payment infrastructure, we are enabling a seamless, secure and more enjoyable experience for consumers, merchants and businesses alike.”
