How Google's AP2 Sets New Standards for Agentic Payments
Google’s Agents Payments Protocol (AP2) aims to deliver an agentic payment system designed to work seamlessly across diverse platforms.
Merchants, payment providers and consumers can securely process transactions spanning a wide range of payment methods.
The initiative includes partnerships with Adyen, American Express, Ant International, Coinbase, Etsy, Forter, Intuit, JCB, Mastercard, Mysten Labs, PayPal, Revolut, Salesforce, ServiceNow, UnionPay International and Worldpay.
Agentic Pay introductions are on the rise
In recent months, the adoption of agentic AI across the payments sector has accelerated significantly.
According to a PYMNTS report, agentic AI is expected to manage as much as 20% of e-commerce tasks by 2025.
Payhawk has launched four agents designed to support travel bookings, procurement, financial control and payment processing.
One such Agent reportedly deflects 40% of helpdesk inquiries by assisting with failed transactions, blocked cards and funding concerns.
Similarly, Mastercard has rolled out agentic payment capabilities through its Agent Pay solution.
Agent Pay enables AI agents to execute transactions on a user’s behalf, leveraging tokenisation to securely facilitate payments.
At launch, Mastercard confirmed plans to collaborate with IBM to expand B2B use cases and with Microsoft to scale agentic commerce more broadly.
What about Google’s Agentic Protocol is different?
In what Tom Mason, Principle Specialised Engineer, Applied AI at the office for the CTO at Google Cloud calls a “foundational step”, the introduction of AP2 aims to provide a chance for open communications between agents and merchants.
Writing on LinkedIn, he says: “This initiative introduces a standardised set of API specifications designed to create a secure and interoperable communication layer between LLM-based agents and payment processors.
“The core objective is to enable AI agents to execute transactional flows on behalf of users, moving beyond informational queries to direct commercial actions.”
The protocol also supports a wide range of payment methods, including real-time bank transfers, card transactions and stablecoin payments.
By introducing an open, shared framework, merchants can deliver secure, scalable experiences while maintaining the transparency required to accurately evaluate and mitigate risk.
Tom adds: “By establishing a common protocol, AP2 aims to solve the integration challenge and provide a scalable framework for building robust agentic commerce applications.“
Integration is a key part of the service, and Google state that the AP2 can be used as an extension of its Model Context Protocol and Agent2Agent protocol.
“This is a foundational step in architecting an ecosystem where autonomous agents can securely interact with the existing financial infrastructure,” Tom adds.
Google states that the rollout of AP2 has the potential to unlock new commercial experiences, ranging from smarter shopping and personalised offers to more seamlessly coordinated tasks.
How Google’s AP2 works
To reinforce trust in AI-driven transactions, Google’s AP2 will introduce Mandates.
Mandates serve as verifiable proof of user intent, functioning as cryptographically signed contracts that are tamper-proof by design.
They are divided into two categories aligned with human presence.
When a user is actively involved and requests an item, the instruction is captured through the Intent Mandate, which Google describes as the auditable element of the interaction.
The Cart Mandate, meanwhile, creates a secure, immutable record of the specific items and their price, ensuring the displayed amount is the exact amount charged.
Once a user confirms satisfaction with the cart’s accuracy and approves the purchase, this approval is recorded as a Cart Mandate.
In cases where no human is present, tasks can be delegated to the agent.
If, for example, a user requests a time-sensitive purchase such as concert tickets immediately upon release, they are prompted to sign an Intent Mandate in advance.
The Intent Mandate defines the purchase requirements – including budget, timing and specific conditions.
With this in place, the agent holds undisputable authorisation to conduct the necessary research.
Final approval, however, is still required through the automatically generated Cart Mandate, which is presented to the user once all conditions of the Intent Mandate have been met.
