Mastercard has unveiled Verifiable Intent, a new open, standards-based trust framework co-developed with Google, designed specifically for "agentic commerce" — a world where artificial intelligence (AI) systems don't just assist shoppers, but actively plan, decide, and complete purchases autonomously.
The core problem Verifiable Intent aims to solve is visibility: when a consumer delegates a purchase to an AI agent, the clear “click buy” or "tap to pay" moment that traditionally signals intent disappears. Mastercard's Chief Digital Officer Pablo Fourez argues that this creates a new challenge for every party involved — consumers need assurance their instructions were followed, merchants need confirmation an agent is authorized to buy, and issuers need to distinguish legitimate activity from fraud.
To address this, Verifiable Intent creates a tamper-resistant, cryptographic record of what a user authorized when an AI agent acts on their behalf — linking identity, intent, and action into a single, privacy-preserving audit trail.
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