American Express (Amex) is addressing the challenges posed by personal AI agents making transactions on behalf of users. With the unpredictable nature of large language models, there is a risk of these AI bots executing unauthorized transactions. To mitigate this risk, Amex has unveiled a new framework aimed at capturing and authenticating a customer’s purchase intent before an AI agent completes a transaction.

Intent Intelligence Framework

The newly introduced framework, named the Intent Intelligence Framework, is designed to ensure that customer purchase instructions are maintained throughout the transaction lifecycle. Hannah Bozian, Amex’s VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy, explained in an interview that the goal is to keep agentic transactions "seamless, trusted, and secure, the way our card members expect them to be."

This framework follows the launch of Amex’s Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) Developer Toolkit in April, which includes various services now enhanced by the intent framework. Although Amex has not reported an increase in disputes related to agentic commerce, the company is taking a proactive approach as this type of commerce expands.

Consumer Acceptance of Agentic Commerce

Recent findings from an Amex Trendex report indicate that consumers are open to utilizing AI agents for shopping. Key statistics include:

  • 66% of surveyed U.S. consumers are likely to use AI agents to find the best price for products or services.
  • 61% are likely to seek product or service recommendations via AI agents in the next year.