Merchants and a payment group set rules for AI agent buying

The Secure Technology Alliance is an industry group for payments and identity. It and the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) have partnered on safe agentic commerce, which is when AI agents buy for persons. The MAG speaks for more than 200 merchants in North America, Europe and Asia. The deal follows the new Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum of the Alliance.

What they will do

They work on three areas:

• Fewer incorrect declines of correct payments.
• The data that merchants must give to let AI purchases.
• How an agent selects a payment card.

They also ask AI model developers and fraud firms to become members.

The proof

There are no test results and no shared standard now. A SEON survey found that 50 percent of US adults do not like it when AI agents use their card data.

What is not known

It is open how identity signals are shared, and who is liable when something goes wrong. The groups tell us that they want to act before new protocols divide the market.

Insight: Payment rules for agents may split by firm

On 13 October 2026 American Express tells that it protects a Card Member from an agent error. It does so only if the agent is shown to Amex and Amex authenticates the purchase intent. This reads as a fight to write the rules for agent payments: each payment firm with its own register, or merchants with shared rules. Look for card firms that become part of the forum.