"As autonomous AI agents increasingly browse, compare prices, and complete purchases on behalf of consumers, one challenge is becoming unavoidable for merchants: trust. On Wednesday, Akamai Technologies announced a strategic collaboration with Visa aimed at addressing that problem. The partnership integrates Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol with Akamai's behavioral intelligence, allowing merchants to authenticate AI agents, link them to real consumers, and block malicious bot traffic before it ever reaches sensitive systems."
"For decades, digital commerce has been built around a simple assumption: A human is on the other end of the transaction. Agentic commerce breaks that model. Instead of navigating a merchant's site directly, consumers increasingly rely on software to search, compare, and sometimes buy on their behalf. For instance, whereas previously buying a new suitcase might involve exploring a dozen retailer's sites, soon you might have AI do the legwork for you. That shift introduces a new intermediary-one that can be helpful, harmful, or fraudulent."
Autonomous AI agents increasingly handle browsing, price comparison, and purchases for consumers, creating a trust gap for merchants. Akamai and Visa announced a collaboration that combines Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol with Akamai's behavioral intelligence to authenticate AI agents, link them to real consumers, and block malicious bot traffic before it reaches sensitive systems. Akamai's 2025 Digital Fraud and Abuse Report found AI-powered bot traffic surged more than 300% year-over-year, with commerce seeing over 25 billion AI bot requests in two months. Agentic commerce replaces direct human interaction with software intermediaries, raising questions about refunds, disputes, and merchant liability.
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