Google Launches an Open Protocol for AI‑Driven Commerce

Google revealed a new open standard called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), designed to let artificial‑intelligence agents conduct purchases for users. The announcement emphasized that the protocol is built to be interoperable across AI platforms, payment systems and merchants, providing a traceable paper trail for every transaction.

Key Participants and Backing

More than 60 merchants and financial institutions have pledged support for AP2. Google executives Stavan Parikh and Rao Surapaneni, both VPs at Google and Google Cloud, underscored the company’s dedication to openness, stating, “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.” The full technical specification was posted on GitHub alongside the announcement.

How AP2 Works

AP2 introduces a two‑step approval mechanism. The first step, an “intent mandate,” captures the user’s general desire—such as searching for a specific item—allowing the AI agent to explore options and negotiate with sellers. The second step, a “cart mandate,” provides final user approval before a purchase is executed. For fully automated scenarios, the protocol requires a more detailed intent mandate that includes price limits, timing constraints and other engagement rules, ensuring an auditable trail for fraud prevention.

Illustrative Use Cases

The announcement highlighted several imagined scenarios. In one example, a user asks an AI agent to find a bike trip, prompting the agent to receive a time‑sensitive bundle offer from a bike shop’s own AI. In another, a user provides only dates, location and budget for a weekend getaway; the AI interacts with airline, hotel and travel‑booking agents, assembles a suitable itinerary, and, upon user confirmation, completes the bookings with cryptographically signed transactions.

Crypto Integration and Broader Ecosystem

Google partnered with cryptocurrency platforms Coinbase, Metamask and the Ethereum Foundation to develop an extension that lets AP2 interact with crypto‑oriented x402 protocol, enabling AI‑driven purchases from digital wallets. Other technology firms are pursuing similar agentic purchasing capabilities. Perplexity offers a “Buy With Pro” service within its browser, while Stripe provides software tools for agentic purchasing on its platform, though its suite is described as less comprehensive than AP2.

Industry Reception and Future Outlook

Major payment networks—including Mastercard, American Express and PayPal—have already signaled support for the protocol, giving AP2 a substantial immediate footprint. Google’s open‑source approach, combined with backing from a wide array of merchants, financial institutions and crypto entities, positions AP2 as a potentially transformative standard for AI‑mediated commerce. Its ultimate impact will depend on continued adoption by developers and integration across e‑commerce ecosystems.

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