ACI Worldwide: How AI Agents are Transforming Commerce

The transformative power of AI agents is fundamentally changing commerce.

Agentic commerce – where AI acts as a buyer as well as an adviser – is emerging as a transformative development in the technology sector.

This phenomenon was explored by ACI Worldwide's Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Philip Bruno at the MIT Sloan Fintech Conference. Joining peers from Synchrony, NVIDIA, PwC and Airwallex, Philip outlined what commerce could look like when AI begins making purchasing decisions autonomously.

Digital ecosystems are set to evolve with AI agents initiating discovery, comparison and purchasing autonomously – a topic that blends the sophistication of modern orchestration platforms with the next wave of consumer empowerment, as well as risk.

"As AI becomes an active participant in commerce, the winners will be the companies that embed secure, intelligent wallet experiences directly into the merchant journey," Philip says.

"Agentic systems only work when three things can be guaranteed: permission that can be verified, identity that persists across the entire transaction and evidence that ensures a fair outcome when something goes wrong."

Building trust in autonomous systems

For ACI Worldwide – which provides intelligent orchestration platforms for banks, billers and merchants – the positioning of agentic commerce represents more than an academic discussion.

The company views agentic commerce as a natural evolution of its core mission to make digital transactions both secure and seamless.

Philip's central thesis – that systems enforcing trust will define competitive advantage – addresses one of the most complex challenges in AI-driven transactions: accountability.

A crucial first step is to separate hype from current reality when it comes to agentic commerce, as Philip notes. 

Among the trends already gaining traction – and working well – are zero-click purchasing, interoperable wallet protocols and early agent-driven shopping flows.

However, as Philip and peers emphasise, not all autonomous commerce innovations are equally promising. Much-touted standalone bots, voice-only assistants and isolated consumer agents, for example, have delivered limited practical results.

The infrastructure advantage

ACI Worldwide suggests that the next phase will focus on control.

Philip's remarks build on research from ACI showing that, while AI can transform workflows and customer engagement, underlying infrastructure remains inherently deterministic and therefore, reliable.

"Philip's perspective builds on ACI's recent work showing that while workflow-based applications may be disrupted by gen AI, deterministic payments infrastructure is strengthened, not replaced, by agentic technologies," the company says.

"AI enhances trust, fraud detection, exception handling and transaction intelligence, but the underlying rules-based systems remain essential for compliance, auditability and safety."

This infrastructure-first approach reflects a broader industry recognition that autonomous commerce requires foundational systems capable of handling increased transaction complexity whilst maintaining security standards.

The deterministic nature of payments infrastructure provides the stability necessary for AI agents to operate effectively within defined parameters.

Leadership expertise driving innovation

Philip, who joined ACI Worldwide in January 2025 after three decades at McKinsey & Company, is well-positioned to bring a broad view of the financial ecosystem to the company.

As a former co-lead of McKinsey's Global Payments Practice, he advised financial institutions during several waves of digital and cloud transformation.

Now, at ACI Worldwide – which handles 11% of global card transactions – his mandate is to translate those insights into growth opportunities built on resilient global infrastructure.