According to PYMNTS.com, Visa and UAE real estate developer Aldar have launched a voice-enabled AI agent for payments, completing its first transaction using a customer’s Emirates NBD Darna Visa Card. The payment was made through the Live Aldar mobile app, where the AI agent confirmed the customer’s details and executed the transaction. Within weeks, Visa cardholders in the UAE will be able to use this AI agent on Live Aldar or the Aldar website to pay real estate service charges. The companies plan to roll out additional, unspecified capabilities in 2026. The initiative is powered by the Visa Intelligent Commerce program, which was unveiled in April 2024 to open Visa’s network to developers building AI agents that can search, recommend, and pay.
Agentic Commerce Is Here
So, this is it. The first tangible step into what Visa calls “agentic commerce.” It’s not just a voice assistant reading your balance anymore. This AI agent is authorized to actually spend your money on your behalf, within a defined scope. The transaction here—paying a real estate service charge—is brilliantly chosen. It’s a routine, predictable bill. Perfect for automation. The agent handles the authentication and the button-pressing. Basically, it’s a very fancy, conversational autopay.
Visa’s Real Play
Here’s the thing: Aldar’s cool demo is just the showcase. Visa’s big move is Visa Intelligent Commerce. They’re not trying to build the only AI agent. They’re trying to become the indispensable railroad that every AI agent runs on. By opening their network to developers, as they announced in April, they’re positioning themselves as the trusted, secure plumbing in the background. Think about it. If you’re an engineer building a shopping agent, would you rather hack together payments or just plug into Visa’s global system? It’s a classic platform strategy. They win by facilitating the transactions, no matter which AI is initiating them.
Security, Trust, and the Road to 2026
Now, the elephant in the room. Trust. Letting an AI loose with your credit card details is, understandably, a huge hurdle. That’s why the quotes from Aldar’s Harry Nakichbandi and Visa’s Godfrey Sullivan hammer home “secure” and “trusted.” The initial use case is limited and tied to a loyalty platform (Darna). But the 2026 timeline for “additional capabilities” is where it gets interesting. What does that mean? Dynamic, AI-driven purchases beyond bills? Personalized offers that the agent can accept instantly? The jump from paying a known bill to buying a recommended product is a massive one in terms of consumer psychology and liability.
Is This The Future?
Probably. But it’s a slow-burn future. This isn’t an AI buying a surprise gift for your spouse. It’s an AI paying the condo fees you already owe. The rollout is cautious: UAE-only for now, starting with a specific partner. It feels less like a sudden revolution and more like the methodical laying of track. Visa gets to test its new rails with a low-risk, high-value partner like Aldar. And if it works? That blueprint gets exported everywhere. The real question isn’t if agentic payments are coming. It’s how comfortable we’ll all become handing over the “confirm purchase” button to a chatbot.
