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Amex launches framework to stop AI agents making unauthorized purchases
American Express is launching the Intent Intelligence Framework, which captures and authenticates a customer's purchase intent before an AI agent completes a transaction. It is part of the company's Agentic Commerce Experiences developer toolkit, launched in April. Amex said it hopes the approach becomes an industry standard.
Key points
- Amex's Intent Intelligence Framework authenticates purchase intent before an AI agent checks out.
- Agents pay with a secure credential tied to an Intent ID, not the real card number.
- The intent services are part of Amex's ACE Developer Toolkit, launched in April.
What happened: American Express is launching the Intent Intelligence Framework to keep AI agents from making purchases customers did not authorize, TechCrunch reported on October 13. The framework captures and verifies what a customer wants to buy before an agent checks out. The intent services are now part of Amex's Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) Developer Toolkit, which launched in April.
The details: A Create Intent API records the customer's instructions and constraints, such as merchant, maximum budget and product preferences. The customer then authenticates and signs off on that intent. The system issues a unique Intent ID and a Proof of Intent Token, which is used to obtain a secure digital payment credential that the agent uses at checkout instead of the real card number. In Amex's example, if a customer asks for white Nike sneakers in size 9 and the agent tries to buy Adidas shoes, the transaction could be blocked. The Intent ID and token can also support fraud prevention and dispute resolution.
Background: Amex said it has not yet seen a rise in agentic commerce disputes but wants the technology in place before such commerce scales. In an Amex Trendex report, 66% of surveyed US consumers said they were likely to use AI agents to research the best price over the next 12 months. Hannah Bozian, Amex's VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy, said the approach pulls intent earlier into the transaction flow.
What to watch: Amex said it is in discussions with partners across the payments ecosystem about implementing ACE, but has not disclosed named partners or a rollout date.
Our take
Teams deploying purchasing agents get a concrete model for binding agent spending to user approved limits and an audit trail.