Three companies this week jointly announced what is being described as Canada’s first successful deployment of an agentic commerce transaction involving an artificially intelligent commerce platform.
The demonstration was completed by Mastercard, Flybits, and Rogers Bank to show how AI-powered shopping experiences can prioritize consumer control, transparency, and security.
“Agentic commerce represents one of the most significant shifts in the future of commerce and payments,” believes Craig Reiff, who functions as Senior Vice President of Core Payments for Mastercard in Canada.
Specifically, a Flybits-powered AI assistant acted on instructions established by a Rogers Red credit card cardholder to identify an eligible product within a specified budget and complete a purchase using Mastercard Agent Pay technology.
Mastercard research shows that more than 40% of Canadians are open to using AI assistants to shop online, while a majority of those with positive feelings toward AI shopping assistants report being open to AI-assisted purchasing within pre-set preferences and budget limits.
As AI becomes more capable of acting on behalf of users, the collaboration between the firms is designed to help identify potential safeguards and industry standards which may be practical to support trusted adoption in Canada, according to Reiff.
“As AI becomes increasingly capable of acting on behalf of consumers, trust will determine how quickly these experiences scale,” he commented, adding: “Mastercard is helping establish the standards and infrastructure for secure, transparent, and consumer-controlled commerce in Canada.”
The milestone builds on Mastercard’s global Agent Pay framework for interoperable agentic commerce, according to Reiff, and is also a major moment for Flybits.
Flybits founder Hossein Rahnama, who serves as the Edward Rogers Sr. Chair in AI and Human Creativity at TMU, says that in order “for consumers to embrace AI-powered commerce, the experience must be transparent, fast, and personalized.”
“By combining contextual intelligence with auditable AI, we are building a new generation of digital commerce experiences that enable consumers to make more informed decisions with greater confidence, clarity and access to relevant choices,” Rahnama remarked.
In future phases, Flybits plans to incorporate Mastercard Insight Tokens to deliver a more personalized and dynamic experiences with consumer consent.
Nick Bednarz, chief executive officer of Rogers Bank, says the “shows how AI technology can simplify commerce while preserving the security, transparency and control consumers expect from their payment experiences.”
“We are always looking for innovative ways to enhance the customer experience and deliver value to Canadians,” said Bednarz.
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