AI payment is here: you can pay with just a verbal command, would you like to activate it?

In the AI era, the form of payment entrances is changing accordingly. Platforms are deploying AI payment in an attempt to seize the right to speak of the next - generation interaction entrances.

Alipay's AI (Artificial Intelligence) version has been officially launched. UnionPay Business announced its AI payment products, and JD.com is deploying Agent (intelligent agent) autonomous payment...

Almost simultaneously, domestic payment giants have collectively entered the era of "conversation equals transaction".

On June 16, Ant Group announced the official launch of the AI - version Alipay named "Abao". The AI - version Alipay transforms the user interaction experience from "display - style" to "conversation - style", allowing users to complete tasks just by speaking.

On the same day, UnionPay Business officially announced the launch of its AI payment products, which can currently be applied to three high - frequency scenarios: food reservation in industrial parks, cloud payment, and AI food ordering. It supports users to quickly complete transactions by simply giving an instruction in natural language or text, realizing "conversation equals transaction".

On June 11, JD.com released the Agent Autonomous Payment Protocol (hereinafter referred to as the "A2P2 Protocol"), which builds a security barrier for the autonomous payment of AI agents. A relevant person in charge of JD Technology told Caijing that JD.com will select internal and external scenarios for AI payment pilots next.

According to a source within Tencent, WeChat Pay is conducting a small - scale test of its AI payment capabilities.

Behind the collective deployment of AI payment by payment giants is the drastic change brought by AI Agents to the business ecosystem. According to the latest research report of the cross - border payment company Worldpay, about 40% of consumers worldwide are willing to let AI agents do their shopping for them. Among them, nearly two - thirds of Chinese consumers are ready to let AI help them browse and purchase goods.

At the Alipay AI Payment Ecosystem Conference held at the end of May, Han Xinyi, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Ant Group, said that AI agents will subvert the "traffic is king" logic of the mobile Internet era. In the future, the era of "traffic entrances" determined by humans is coming to an end, and it will be replaced by the "ecosystem of agents".

On June 8, WeChat announced that it will provide WeChat Mini - program developers with the ability to access the WeChat AI ecosystem. Currently, Internet platforms such as Didi, JD.com, Meituan, and Ctrip have announced that they are among the first to access the WeChat AI ecosystem. Users can complete daily tasks such as hailing a taxi, ordering takeout, and booking a hotel by chatting with WeChat AI.

However, payment remains the core closed - loop link of digital services. Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Botong Consulting, told Caijing that in the AI era, the form of payment entrances is changing accordingly. Platforms are deploying AI payment in an attempt to seize the right to speak of the next - generation interaction entrances.

Payment enters the era of "conversation equals transaction"

On June 16, the AI - version Alipay was officially launched and named "Abao".

A test by Caijing found that the interface of the AI - version Alipay is an AI agent dialog box, similar to the experience of large - model clients such as Qianwen, DeepSeek, and Doubao.

Ant Group said that relying on the ecological advantages of Alipay, when users speak, Abao can understand their intentions, match services, and help with various daily tasks such as booking home appliance repairs, sending express deliveries, hailing a taxi, and ordering food. However, when it comes to fund changes or payment, users must confirm themselves.

"This is the first leading app in China to be fully transformed with AI. It is the normal development direction for super apps to shift from a function collection to an agent hub. It will become a super entrance for agents, and it is a measure for enterprises to seize the traffic entrance in the AI era and consolidate their own advantages through technology," Wang Pengbo told Caijing.

At the same time, Wang Pengbo emphasized that in the future, the core competitiveness of the payment industry will gradually shift towards AI service capabilities. However, the foundation of payment is security, stability, and network coverage, which still remains the underlying competitiveness of the industry. AI capabilities are the core increment to improve service efficiency and expand service boundaries on this basis.

On the same day when the AI - version Alipay was officially released, UnionPay Business officially launched its AI payment products and announced the realization of "conversation equals transaction".

UnionPay Business said that this product complies with the China UnionPay APOP (Agent Payment Open Protocol) specification and is a benchmark implementation of this specification in the industrial end.

Currently, UnionPay's AI payment can be applied to three high - frequency scenarios: food reservation in industrial parks, cloud payment, and AI food ordering. It supports users to quickly complete transactions by simply giving an instruction in natural language or text, realizing "pay as you speak" and "conversation equals transaction".

It is reported that according to the different basic conditions of merchants, UnionPay Business can provide two flexible AI payment access solutions: merchants with existing agents can quickly supplement their transaction capabilities through interfaces; merchants without agents can enjoy end - to - end full - process construction services.

Recently, Tencent has also tried to embed AI payment capabilities into its AI scenarios.

A source within Tencent told Caijing that WeChat Pay is conducting a small - scale test of its AI payment capabilities in WorkBuddy and QClaw, both of which are AI agent products launched by Tencent at the beginning of 2026. With the AI payment capabilities of WeChat Pay, users can put forward consumption demands in the conversation with the agent.

Previously, there were also rumors in the market that Tencent was making an AI transformation of the WeChat app.

On June 8, the official WeChat account of WeChat developers released "Guidelines for Developers to Access the AI Ecosystem", announcing that it will provide WeChat Mini - program developers with the ability to access the WeChat AI ecosystem. "WeChat AI" mainly refers to the AI agent that Tencent is developing and embedding in the WeChat app.

Subsequently, Internet platforms such as Didi, JD.com, Meituan, and Ctrip announced that they are among the first to access the WeChat AI ecosystem. In the future, users can directly complete daily tasks such as hailing a taxi, ordering takeout, and booking a hotel by chatting with the WeChat AI agent.

Behind the AI transformation of platforms such as Ant and Tencent is the ecological positioning of payment giants in the agent era.

"As the underlying financial infrastructure, payment always needs to be integrated into the ecosystem to show its vitality and competitiveness," a senior expert in the payment field said at a small - scale sharing meeting. "The game behind AI payment protocols or standards is first of all an ecological game. Therefore, platforms with ecological support will have a comparative advantage in future competition."

At the Alipay AI Payment Ecosystem Conference, Li Jiajia, the co - president of Ant Group's Digital Payment Business Group, told Caijing that currently, Alipay does not consider business, revenue, or competition in its AI payment business. It only wants to play a good role as the AI payment infrastructure and expand the ecosystem first.

The payment value of the new AI traffic entrance

In the new business ecosystem, payment remains the key infrastructure to complete the business closed - loop.

"Only when agents can conduct transactions and receive payments will more people be motivated to develop agents," Li Jiajia told the media. The expansion of the agent ecosystem scale is also the premise for AI payment to form a sustainable business model.

In fact, AI payment has become the core infrastructure for technology giants' AI deployment.

On June 11, JD.com officially released the A2P2 Protocol, aiming to build a security barrier for the autonomous payment scenarios of AI agents.

A relevant person in charge of JD Technology said that relying on its super - supply chain and in - depth embedding in niche markets, JD.com covers more than 3,000 scenarios such as retail, logistics, health, industry, takeout, and housekeeping. It is one of the enterprises with the most AI application scenarios and the strongest industrial depth in the world. This year, JD.com's R & D investment related to AI has increased by more than 200%. In the future, it will build the world's largest physical - world operation center, promoting AI from all industries to thousands of households.

"In the future, the autonomous payment of agents will play an increasingly important role. The emergence of the A2P2 Protocol fills the most critical trust gap in the payment field in the era of the intelligent economy," the relevant person in charge of JD Technology said. They hope to build an industry standard for the autonomous payment of agents through the A2P2 Protocol and solve the trust problem in the "last mile" of AI payment.

The relevant person in charge of JD Technology told Caijing that next, JD.com will select internal and external scenarios for AI payment pilots, trying to let agents autonomously promote payment - related processes within a single task, such as API (Application Programming Interface) call billing, low - value tool purchase, and single - service reservation for business trips.

Even earlier, payment platforms such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, JD Technology, and Du Xiaoman have all launched AI payment solutions for agents based on their respective ecosystems and capabilities.

Among them, Alipay announced the launch of a full - stack AI - native payment system for the AI era. As of the end of May 2026, the number of Alipay's AI payment transactions exceeded 300 million, supporting 95% of general agent frameworks, including general agents, smart devices, smart cockpits, and AI tool platforms.

In addition, technology and payment giants such as China UnionPay, Alipay, and Google have previously deployed the AI payment ecosystem by releasing AI payment protocols.

"The core of platforms' deployment of AI payment is to seize the right to speak of the next - generation interaction entrances," Wang Pengbo told Caijing. "Payment is the core closed - loop link of digital services. In the AI era, user interaction shifts from click operations to intention - driven, and the form of payment entrances will change accordingly. Early deployment aims to occupy the new traffic entrance."

(The author is a reporter from Caijing)

This article is from the WeChat official account "Caijing May Flower" (ID: Caijing - MayFlower). Author: Tang Jun, Editor: Zhang Wei. It is reprinted by 36Kr with authorization.