Ant Group CEO: Payments Are the 'Trusted Commitment Engine' for Agent Commerce

At the Bund Conference on Sept 11, 2026, Ant Group CEO Han Xinyi said AI payments are not the final step but a trusted commitment engine for agent commerce. Alipay announced its AI payment push is moving from 'payable' to 'trustworthy,' introducing an AI wallet agent, Vibe Pay, Skill Pay and Machine Pay, along with new scenarios such as AI recurring purchases, all supported by Ant Group's APASS trust infrastructure.

The AI wallet agent is designed to manage users' AI payment transactions, tracking the full context of each deal and executing payment only after risk checks and confirmation that the transaction matches user authorization. Vibe Pay lets developers charge per use for AI apps or pages; Skill Pay handles protection, pricing and collection for Skills, allowing developers to earn when agents call them; Machine Pay bills automatically based on agent usage.

APASS is built on the KYA (Know Your Agent) concept and creates trust mechanisms around agent identity, intent, authorization and behavior. Applied to Alipay's AI payments, it can continuously assess an agent's identity and authorization, deny unauthorized transactions and leave auditable credentials. Alipay said agent-driven purchase orders grew 7x in the past five months and average monthly payment frequency per user tripled. Visa and Mastercard are also exploring interoperability around the KYA framework with the Alipay+ network.

AI payment is also entering physical commerce: Qwen AI glasses, Future Intelligence viaim AI earbuds and a robot dog named 'Tutu' showcased purchases authorized by users.