On Tuesday, Google announced a new open protocol for purchases initiated by AI agents — automated software programs that can shop and make decisions on behalf of users — with backing from more than 60 merchants and financial institutions. Called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the system is meant to be interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and vendors, providing a traceable paper trail for each transaction.
In a post announcing the protocol, Google executives emphasized their commitment to openness. “We are committed to evolving this protocol in an open, collaborative process, including through standards bodies, and invite the entire payments and technology community to build this future with us,” wrote Stavan Parikh and Rao Surapaneni, who are VPs at Google and Google Cloud, respectively.