Amex introduces a framework to prevent AI agents from making unauthorized purchases

American Express is trying to put a seatbelt on AI shopping. The company has introduced the Intent Intelligence Framework, a system meant to capture what a customer meant to buy before an AI agent actually completes the transaction. In Amex’s view, that matters because large language models are not exactly famous for sticking to the script.

The framework sits inside Amex’s Agentic Commerce Experiences, or ACE Developer Toolkit, which launched in April. Amex says it hasn’t seen a jump in disputes from agentic commerce yet, but it wants the plumbing in place before this stuff gets bigger. That’s a very payments-company instinct, and probably the right one.

Here’s the basic flow. A Create Intent API collects the customer’s instructions and any constraints they include — things like the merchant’s name, a maximum budget, and product preferences. The customer then authenticates and signs off on that intent. After that, the system creates an Intent ID and a Proof of Intent Token, which carries the high-level constraints. That token is then used to get a secure digital payment credential for checkout instead of the customer’s actual card number.

Amex says the same Intent ID and token can also help with fraud prevention and dispute resolution later in the process. The company’s argument is that intent should be checked earlier, before the wrong purchase ever gets far enough to become a mess. Hannah Bozian, Amex’s VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy, gave the example of a customer asking for white Nike sneakers in size 9 and the agent trying to buy Adidas instead. In that case, Amex says, the transaction could be stopped.

The company is also thinking beyond today’s fairly cautious agent setups. Bozian said many current agents ask for consent before buying, but future systems may act more autonomously, especially for routine reorders like paper towels or toilet paper, where the real limits are price and size. Amex says its framework is meant to work across different agentic commerce models, and the company is already talking with partners across the payments ecosystem about ACE as the space develops.