American Express introduces a framework to authorize AI agent purchases

American Express introduced the Intent Intelligence Framework, designed to record and authenticate a customer’s instructions before an AI agent completes a purchase. The company says the technology captures constraints such as the merchant, maximum budget and preferences, then creates an Intent ID and Proof of Intent Token used to obtain a digital payment credential instead of the actual card number.

The framework has been added to the ACE Developer Toolkit, which American Express launched in April. The company told TechCrunch it has not yet seen an increase in disputes related to agentic commerce, but wants to anticipate the model’s growth. In an Amex Trendex report cited by the company, 66% of surveyed U.S. consumers said they were likely to use agents to research the best price, and 61% to receive recommendations, over the next 12 months. American Express hopes its approach will become an industry standard.