Online Shopping: An AI Can Now Pay for Your Purchases in France

Shopping without ever reaching for your credit card or even approving the transaction yourself: that's now a reality in France. On September 7, 2026, Revolut and Visa announced they had carried out the country's very first secure AI payment, a test that opens a new era for online shopping and reshapes how French consumers might soon hand over their purchases to a digital agent.

A First Payment Driven by an AI Agent, Under Real Conditions

The transaction took place at online merchant Cleverbridge, as part of Visa's “Agentic Ready” program. A digital assistant, authorized by a Revolut customer, carried out the various steps of a purchase through to final payment, with no manual action on the payment form. The transaction relied on Visa Payment Passkey technology to authenticate the user, and on the Visa Intelligent Commerce system, which uses the same security tools as a standard payment: identity verification and real-time fraud control.

For Revolut, the stated goal is to “better understand how this type of payment could work” at scale, before considering a wider rollout to its French customers. The neobank, valued at $115 billion in July 2026, is thus seeking to position itself in a segment being closely watched by major payment players.

Online Shopping Enters the Era of Agentic Commerce

This test is part of a broader trend: agentic commerce, where an AI agent searches for, compares, and then buys a product on behalf of a user, with a simple request in plain language. We already covered this mechanism in our article on agentic commerce and the AI agents that shop for you, a movement launched in late 2025 by OpenAI and Stripe. The landscape keeps shifting: OpenAI removed direct payment from ChatGPT in spring 2026, while Google unveiled its Universal Commerce Protocol with Shopify, Etsy, and Walmart in January. Revolut and Visa's French bet fits into this race between tech giants and banking players, a story we're following in our AI News – AI Agent section.

French Adoption Is Already Well Underway

According to the 2026 Digital Barometer (Baromètre du numérique), 51% of the French population already uses generative AI tools on a daily basis, fertile ground for the rise of automated payment. France isn't the first in Europe: Santander, together with Mastercard, carried out Europe's first-ever payment initiated by an AI agent as early as March 2026. This rapid adoption is also raising concerns among regulators: we previously reported how the Autorité de la concurrence (the French competition authority) is calling for vigilance over online purchases made by AI agents, particularly regarding the transparency of product recommendations.

What Safeguards Are in Place for Consumers?

Visa and Revolut are adamant: the agent can only act with the customer's explicit consent, under the issuer's control, “without creating a gap in existing protections.” In practice:

• the user grants prior authorization to the digital assistant;
• every transaction remains subject to the same anti-fraud checks as a standard payment;
• Visa Payment Passkey replaces manual entry with biometric authentication;
• the customer can revoke the agent's access at any time.

For merchants, adapting to this “agentic” customer base means structuring product listings so they're readable by AI and securing their payment APIs. Our guide to choosing the right agentic AI software details the criteria to consider. The banking sector is already rolling out digital services in this direction: most online banks now offer modern services designed to work alongside these automation tools.

Toward Widespread Adoption of AI Payments?

For now, the Revolut and Visa experiment remains an isolated test, carried out with a limited number of users. But the signal is clear: major payment networks want to be ready before AI-assisted shopping becomes a common practice. It remains to be seen whether French consumers, still wary of handing their spending over to an agent, will embrace the shift as quickly as banks expect. More insights on these new habits can be found in our Shopping and Consumer sections.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AI payment?

A payment triggered by an AI agent acting on behalf of a user, who has previously authorized the assistant to carry out the steps of a purchase through to payment, without manually entering credit card information.

Is this type of payment secure?

Yes, according to Visa and Revolut: the transaction goes through the same checks as a standard payment (identity verification, real-time fraud prevention) and requires the customer's explicit consent via Visa Payment Passkey.

Will AI payment soon be available to all French consumers?

Not yet. The test conducted with merchant Cleverbridge remains experimental. Revolut says it wants to first better understand how it works before considering a wider rollout.

Sources

• Clubic – Revolut and Visa Have an AI Pay on Your Behalf in France
• MoneyVox – Revolut Announces It Carried Out the First AI Payment in France
• Cryptoast – Revolut Carries Out the First AI Payment in France with Visa

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy