AI will pay on behalf of the customer

Something fundamental is changing in digital commerce. And this time, it’s not just about better UX or a faster checkout. The very logic of payments is changing.

In the next phase of e-commerce, decisions will increasingly not be made by people comparing offers, choosing a payment method, and clicking “Pay.” They will be made by software. By AI agents acting on behalf of the user - with a clear goal, predefined rules, and access to their financial context.

This already has a name: agentic commerce.

In this model, the user does not go through checkout. They express intent: “Find me the best option,” “book,” “pay.” From there, the process happens automatically - selection, comparison, decision, and payment. Without manual data entry. Without choosing a payment method. Without hesitation.

This raises a much deeper question for the entire payments industry: if the human is no longer the one making the payment, what does “payment experience” even mean?

For PSPs, this is not just a new channel. It is a structural shift in their role.

Current models are built for a world where the human is at the center of the payment. Card payments require active participation. Wallets are built as closed environments. Most solutions assume an interface, choice, and confirmation. All of this becomes irrelevant when the decision is made by an agent, not a person.

Agentic commerce requires a different kind of infrastructure. Not infrastructure for interaction, but infrastructure for execution. Payments that can be triggered via APIs, in real time, and within predefined rules. Systems that combine access to financial data with the ability to execute a transaction instantly. Not separate functionalities, but connected logic.

In this context, access to data becomes just as important as the payment itself. An AI agent cannot act intelligently without understanding the user’s financial situation - balances, constraints, behavior, priorities. And it cannot act effectively if it cannot execute the transaction immediately, in the same context in which the decision was made.

This also changes how we think about trust. If the human is not directly involved in the payment, control must be embedded in the system. Limits, transparency, the right to refuse, traceability - these are no longer additional features. They are fundamental requirements. Without them, adoption will not happen, no matter how convenient the technology seems.

In this new model, checkout is not optimized.It disappears.

Payment stops being a separate moment and becomes a natural part of the process. And when that happens, value shifts - from the interface to the infrastructure.

This is also where open banking appears naturally prepared for the next stage. Payment infrastructure built on account-to-account payments, API integrations, and access to account data is much closer to the logic of agentic commerce than solutions designed for a world of manual input and interfaces. IRIS Pay, for example, already enables direct account-to-account payments, payments via link, QR code, and integration into online stores and systems, while IRIS Solutions is a licensed provider by the Bulgarian National Bank for payment initiation services and account information services.

Agentic commerce will not replace existing models overnight. But it will start bypassing them. First in niche use cases. Then in increasingly everyday scenarios. And as often happens, when user behavior changes, infrastructure follows - but not all players manage to adapt in time.

So the question for PSPs is no longer whether this shift will happen. The question is whether they will be part of it. Whether they will continue optimizing a process that is gradually losing relevance, or start building capabilities for a world where payments happen without human involvement.

This is a conversation that can no longer be postponed.