Google launched the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) in a move that will flesh out how AI agents will handle commerce and transactions. AP2 is an extension of Google's Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol.
While the grand vision of agentic AI is that various agents will carry out tasks for you, commerce was a big sticking point. Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) and A2A have developed quickly so AI agents can communicate and trade information, but anything revolving money was an issue.
AP2 aims to create a payment framework that can be leveraged by merchants and payment networks. Google said it lined up more than 60 organizations to support AP2 including American Express, Coinbase, Etsy, Intuit, Mastercard, PayPal, Salesforce and ServiceNow to name a few. Visa wasn't initially listed in Google's blog post.
- Agentic AI protocols: MCP and A2A today, many more tomorrow
- OpenAI's support puts MCP in pole position as agentic AI standard
- Microsoft supports Google Cloud's Agent2Agent standard
Google said AP2 will address payment issues around authorization, authenticity and accountability. A user has to give an agent authority to make a purchase and AP2 enables merchants to make sure an agent is accurately making a purchase. There's also protocols for fraudulent and incorrect transactions.
Here are the key points about AP2:
- The system revolves around Mandates, which are "tamper-proof, cryptographically-signed digital contracts that serve as verifiable proof of a user's instructions."
- Mandates address real-time purchases where a human asks an agent to find something. The request is captured in an initial Intent Mandate and then a Cart Mandate for the final purchase.
- Delegated tests will require a detailed Intent Mandate up front to outline rules of engagement.
- Mandates can also specify personalized offers, price bands and details about the purchase.
Constellation Research's take
Constellation analysts chimed in on AP2. Michael Ni said:
"With AP2, Google shifts the center of gravity from last-touch clicks to agent-driven commerce. Intent can now be monetized earlier in the flow, reflecting that ad revenue tied to final-click attribution is at risk. The opportunity lies in redefining how those aggregating buyer interest measure and monetize these new intent entry points."
Holger Mueller noted that AP2 is "allowing agents to do what humans to in a human designed e-commerce world." The big question is whether Microsoft will support it.
Esteban Kolsky added "Google is doing a good job positioning itself as the option for serious AI work with Gemini releases, capacity planning, interfaces, and a bunch of governance related components that no one else is providing."
