Visa and Akamai Partner to Secure AI Shopping Agents

On December 17, 2025, Visa and Akamai Technologies announced a strategic collaboration to secure agentic commerce, where autonomous AI agents perform online shopping for humans. The partnership integrates Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol with Akamai's edge-based behavioral intelligence to solve the dual-identity challenge, allowing merchants to verify both the AI agent and the human user it represents.

This security layer aims to distinguish legitimate AI agents from malicious bots, which Akamai reports have increased by 300% over the past year. The framework focuses on identifying agent intent, linking agents to users, and protecting payment interactions across Visa's network of 175 million accepting merchant locations. The effort follows earlier industry moves, including Visa's May launch of Intelligent Commerce and Google's September release of the Agent Payments Protocol.

Visa also reported the successful completion of hundreds of AI-driven transactions through a pilot program focused on recurring orders and time-sensitive purchases like concert tickets. The company is currently collaborating with over 20 partners and plans to expand these pilots into Asia and Europe in 2026. This development coincides with similar efforts from Mastercard, Amazon, and a partnership between PayPal and Perplexity to develop agentic shopping capabilities.