Trust in agentic commerce

As AI agents begin shopping, paying and making decisions on behalf of people and businesses, the biggest challenge is trust, not technology. In its new white paper, "Trust for agentic commerce," Mastercard argues that the future of agentic commerce depends on giving every participant confidence that an AI agent is acting with the right authority, within approved limits and with clear accountability. 

The report introduces the Mastercard Agent Pay Trust Framework, built around five pillars: identity, intent, controls, trusted execution and intelligence. Together, they are designed to answer the key questions behind every agent-led transaction: Who is acting? What was authorized? What is the agent allowed to do? Can the transaction be trusted? Can risk be seen as agent behavior evolves?

Trust must be built into every stage of the process, from verifying an agent's identity and proving what a consumer or business approved to securing payments, detecting fraud and resolving disputes. The goal is to help consumers, businesses, merchants, banks and AI platforms confidently participate in a world where AI agents increasingly act on their behalf. 

Agent-led transactions will become commonplace across both consumer and commercial payments, particularly in procurement and machine-to-machine commerce. By extending the trust infrastructure it has built for digital commerce into the age of AI, Mastercard aims to help make delegated commerce safe, scalable and widely accepted.