Personal AI agents are handling more and more transactions for their users, but because large language models don't always behave predictably, these AI bots sometimes do things they shouldn't. In this context, that means there's a real risk of AI making purchases that were never authorized. To address this challenge head-on, American Express has rolled out a new framework built to capture and verify a customer's purchase intent before an AI agent finalizes any transaction. According to Amex, there needs to be a mechanism ensuring that the customer's purchasing instructions stay intact throughout the entire transaction lifecycle—from the initial purchase through everything that comes after. The company calls this the "Intent Intelligence Framework" and hopes it will eventually become an industry standard for AI-driven transactions. An Amex representative explained that the goal is to keep agentic transactions "seamless, trusted, and secure, the way our card members expect them to be."

This framework arrives on the heels of Amex's April launch of its Agentic Commerce Experiences, also known as the ACE Developer Toolkit, which bundles several services—now including the intent framework. While Amex says it hasn't yet observed a rise in disputes tied to agentic commerce, the company chose to proactively develop this technology as this type of commerce continues to grow. Part of the motivation comes from consumer openness to trying agentic commerce. A recent Amex Trendex report found that 66% of surveyed U.S. [consumers indicated interest].

To begin, Amex's intent framework starts with a Create Intent API that captures the customer's purchase instructions along with any other constraints they may have specified—things like the merchant's name, a maximum budget, and product preferences. The way this intent gets collected could differ depending on which AI model is involved, but the goal is to make the framework flexible enough to accommodate all agentic commerce models, according to Bozian. Next, the customer verifies their identity and approves the intent the agent has captured. At that point, an Intent ID—a unique identifier representing the intent—is generated, along with a Proof of Intent Token that contains the customer's high-level constraints. This token is then used to obtain a secure digital payment credential that the agent will present at checkout rather than using the customer's actual credit card number. By doing this, Amex says, the purchase stays secure while remaining aligned with what the customer authorized the agent to do. The Intent ID and token can also be applied at various stages of the transaction process, helping companies manage things like fraud prevention and dispute resolution, Amex noted.

"Our approach differs from the implementations of others in that it pulls intent earlier into the transaction flow. And this is important because it helps mitigate some risk before the risk occurs," Bozian said. She gave the example of a customer instructing an agent to buy white Nike sneakers in a size 9, but the agent instead submits a request to purchase shoes from Adidas. In that scenario, Amex could block the transaction because the agent made an error. Bozian also pointed out that while many agents today seek customer consent before completing a purchase, Amex anticipates a future where agents may operate far more autonomously in certain situations. For example, a consumer might let their agent re-order household essentials like paper towels or toilet paper—categories where the only real constraints are price and size, not merchant or brand. In these cases, having technology in the loop to perform that extra verification makes sense, ensuring transactions align with the customer's intent. Keeping a log of what was authorized by which agent and when could also help address fraud committed on behalf of the agent, she noted.

Amex is already in talks with partners throughout the payments ecosystem about implementing ACE, which includes the agentic tokens containing Amex's payment credentials, as well as other components of the developer kit. The company says it intends to actively develop ACE further as the agentic commerce ecosystem continues to evolve.