美国运通推出新框架，防止 AI Agent 未经授权购物

个人 AI Agent 正越来越多地代表用户进行交易，但由于大语言模型具有非确定性，AI 机器人容易做出不符合预期的行为。在交易场景中，这意味着 AI 可能出现失误，发起未经授权的交易。

为提前应对这一问题，美国运通（American Express，简称 Amex）推出了一套新框架，旨在 AI Agent 完成交易前记录并验证客户的购买意图。

美国运通表示，核心思路是确保客户的购买指令贯穿整个交易生命周期，从购买环节一直延续到后续各个环节。

该框架名为“意图智能框架”（Intent Intelligence Framework），美国运通希望它能成为 AI 驱动交易的行业标准。

“这些新型交易将涉及消费者、商家和 Agent，”美国运通 Agent 合作伙伴关系与战略副总裁 Hannah Bozian 在接受 TechCrunch 采访时解释说。她表示，公司希望确保 Agent 交易仍然“像持卡会员所期望的那样，流畅、可信且安全”。

这一框架的发布，继美国运通 4 月推出 Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences（ACE）开发者工具包之后。该工具包包含多项服务，如今也纳入了意图框架。

美国运通表示，目前尚未发现因 Agent 商务而增加的交易争议，但随着这类商务活动不断扩大，公司希望主动构建相关技术。原因之一是，消费者已表现出尝试 Agent 商务的意愿。

美国运通向 TechCrunch 表示，在近期的一份 Amex Trendex 报告中，66% 的美国受访消费者表示，他们可能在未来 12 个月内使用 AI Agent 查找某款产品或服务的最优价格；61% 的受访者表示，他们可能使用 AI Agent 获取产品或服务推荐。

首先，美国运通的新意图框架通过 Create Intent API 记录客户的购买指令，以及客户在请求中提出的其他约束条件，例如商家名称、最高预算和其他产品偏好。Bozian 表示，收集意图的方式可能因所使用的 AI 模型而异，但公司计划让该框架足够灵活，以支持所有 Agent 商务模式。

随后，客户需要验证身份，并确认 Agent 所记录的意图。

接下来，系统会创建一个代表该意图的唯一标识符 Intent ID，以及一个包含客户概括性约束条件的 Proof of Intent Token（意图证明令牌）。该令牌用于获取安全的数字支付凭证，Agent 在结账时将使用该凭证，而不是客户实际的信用卡号码。美国运通表示，这样既能保障购买安全，也能确保交易符合客户对 Agent 的授权。

美国运通表示，Intent ID 和令牌还可以用于交易流程的不同环节，帮助企业处理欺诈防范和争议解决等事务。

“我们的方法与其他机构的实现方式不同，因为我们在交易流程中更早地引入了意图。这一点很重要，因为它有助于在风险发生之前降低部分风险。”Bozian 举例说，假设客户要求 Agent 购买一双 9 码的白色 Nike 运动鞋，但 Agent 提交了购买 Adidas 鞋子的请求。在这种情况下，美国运通可以阻止交易完成，因为 Agent 犯了错误。

Bozian 还指出，尽管目前许多 Agent 会在购买前征求客户同意，但美国运通预见，未来在某些情况下，Agent 的自主行动程度可能会高得多。例如，消费者可能允许 Agent 重新订购纸巾或卫生纸等家庭日用品；对于这类商品，真正的约束可能只有价格和规格，而非商家或品牌。在这些场景中，让技术参与流程并执行额外检查是有意义的，以确保交易符合客户意图。

她指出，保留记录，说明哪些操作获得了授权、由哪个 Agent 执行以及发生在什么时间，也有助于应对假借 Agent 名义实施的欺诈。

美国运通已经与支付生态系统中的合作伙伴讨论如何实施 ACE，包括使用包含美国运通支付凭证的 Agent 令牌，以及开发者工具包的其他组成部分。

该公司表示，计划随着 Agent 商务生态系统的发展，继续积极完善 ACE。

10 月 13 日，在 TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 的行业舞台上，美国运通 Agent 合作伙伴关系与战略副总裁 Hannah Bozian 将更详细地介绍该公司的新“意图智能框架”，以及它对 Agent 商务领域的意义。

Personal AI agents are increasingly making transactions on their users’ behalf, but given the nondeterministic nature of large language models, AI bots are prone to doing what they’re not supposed to. Which, in this case, raises the possibility of AI misfiring and making unauthorized transactions.

To get ahead of this problem, American Express is introducing a new framework designed to capture and authenticate a customer’s purchase intent before an AI agent completes the transaction.

The idea is that there should be a way to ensure that the customer’s purchase instructions are carried throughout the transaction lifecycle, Amex says, from the purchase to everything that follows.

Dubbed the “Intent Intelligence Framework,” the company hopes it will become an industry standard for AI-powered transactions.

“These new transactions will have a consumer, a merchant, and an agent,” explained Amex’s VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy, Hannah Bozian, in an interview with TechCrunch. She said the company wanted to ensure that agentic transactions are still “seamless, trusted, and secure, the way our card members expect them to be.”

This framework’s release follows the company’s April launch of Amex’s Agentic Commerce Experiences, or the ACE Developer Toolkit, which includes a handful of services that now include the intent framework.

Amex said it has not yet seen an increase in disputes because of agentic commerce, but it wanted to be proactive in building this technology as this type of commerce scales. In part, that’s because consumers have signaled they’re open to trying agentic commerce.

In a recent Amex Trendex report, 66% of surveyed U.S. consumers said they’re likely to use AI agents to research the best price for a product or service, and 61% said they’re likely to use it for a product or service recommendation over the next 12 months, the company told TechCrunch.

To start, Amex’s new intent framework begins with a Create Intent API, which will capture the customer’s purchase instructions along with other constraints they may have included in their request, like the merchant’s name, maximum budget, and other product preferences. How this intent is collected may vary depending on the AI model involved, but the plan is to make this framework flexible enough to support all agentic commerce models, Bozian said.

The customer then authenticates their identity and signs off on the intent captured by the agent.

Then an Intent ID, a unique identifier representing the intent, is created, along with a Proof of Intent Token, which includes the customer’s high-level constraints. This token is used to obtain a secure digital payment credential that the agent will use at checkout instead of the customer’s actual credit card number. In doing so, Amex says, the purchase will remain secure while being aligned with what the customer authorized the agent to do.

This Intent ID and token can also be used in different parts of the transaction process, helping companies to manage areas like fraud prevention and dispute resolution, Amex said.

“Our approach differs from the implementations of others in that it pulls intent earlier into the transaction flow. And this is important because it helps mitigate some risk before the risk occurs,” said Bozian. She offered the example of a customer asking an agent to buy white Nike sneakers in a size 9, but the agent submits a request to purchase shoes from Adidas. In such a case, Amex could prevent the transaction from going through because the agent made a mistake.

Bozian also notes that while many agents today ask for customer consent before making a purchase, Amex foresees a future where agents may act much more autonomously in some cases. For instance, a consumer might allow their agent to re-order household staples, like paper towels or toilet paper — categories in which the only real constraint is the price and size, not merchant or brand. In these scenarios, it makes sense to have technology in the loop performing that extra check, to ensure the transactions match the customer’s intent.

Having a log of what was authorized by which agent and when could also help address fraud on behalf of the agent, she noted.

Amex is already in discussions with partners across the payments ecosystem for implementing ACE, which includes the agentic tokens that contain Amex’s payment credentials, as well as other parts of the developer kit.

The company said it plans to actively develop ACE further as the agentic commerce ecosystem evolves.

On October 13 atTechCrunch Disrupt 2026‘s Industry Stage, Amex VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy at American Express, Hannah Bozian, will discuss the company’s new “Intent Intelligence Framework” in more detail, and what it means for the world of agentic commerce.