Visa is working with BILL Holdings and Billtrust on a test run for AI agents that handle business invoice payments from initiation to completion without humans stepping in to authenticate. The effort is aimed at the repetitive chore of checking and paying invoices, a process that is often predictable because many payments repeat.
BILL's agent can act for a business customer using tokenized credentials - a digital substitute for the customer's payment details - and clear instructions on which invoices to pay and the method of payment. Billtrust uses Visa's technology to move those payments to completion.
Companies across payments are weaving AI agents into products, and Visa earlier this year partnered with OpenAI so agents can make online purchases after users give permission. Inside Visa, AI is changing processes too: earlier this year the company said it would reduce its workforce by about 7%, and Chief Executive Officer Ryan McInerney said AI is helping accelerate how work evolves at the company.
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Mark Nelsen, who oversees Visa's offerings spanning products, commercial services and moving funds, said, "Businesses should not have to choose between automation and control when making payments." He added, "This pilot applies agentic commerce to a real B2B-payment problem."
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