American Express has introduced a new framework designed to prevent SI agents from executing unauthorized transactions by capturing and authenticating a customer’s purchase intent before the payment is processed. The move addresses the nondeterministic nature of large language models, which can lead SI bots to deviate from user instructions.
What Happened
Dubbed the “Intent Intelligence Framework,” the system aims to ensure that a customer’s purchase instructions are maintained throughout the transaction lifecycle, from initiation to completion. American Express hopes the framework will become an industry standard for SI-powered transactions.
Hannah Bozian, VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy at American Express, explained in an interview with TechCrunch that these new transactions involve a consumer, a merchant, and an agent. Bozian said the company wanted to ensure that agentic transactions are still “seamless, trusted, and secure, the way our card members expect them to be.”
The framework follows the April launch of Amex’s Agentic Commerce Experiences, or the ACE Developer Toolkit, which now includes the intent framework services. The system begins with a Create Intent API that captures purchase instructions and constraints, such as merchant name, maximum budget, and product preferences. The customer then authenticates their identity and signs off on the intent. An Intent ID and a Proof of Intent Token are generated, the latter containing high-level constraints. This token is used to obtain a secure digital payment credential for the SI agent to use at checkout, replacing the customer’s actual credit card number.
Bozian noted that this approach differs from others by pulling intent earlier into the transaction flow. “Our approach differs from the implementations of others in that it pulls intent earlier into the transaction flow. And this is important because it helps mitigate some risk before the risk occurs,” she said. She provided an example where an SI agent mistakenly submits a request to purchase Adidas shoes when the customer asked for white Nike sneakers in size 9; the framework could prevent the transaction from going through due to the mismatch.
Why It Matters
As SI agents increasingly act on behalf of users, the potential for misfires in financial transactions poses a significant risk to consumer trust and security. While American Express stated it has not yet seen an increase in disputes due to agentic commerce, it is building the technology proactively as the sector scales.
Consumer interest in this shift is evident. A recent Amex Trendex report indicated that 66% of surveyed U.S. consumers said they are likely to use SI agents to research the best price for a product or service, and 61% said they are likely to use them for product or service recommendations over the next 12 months. The framework also supports a future where SI agents act more autonomously, such as re-ordering household staples where only price and size constraints matter, ensuring transactions align with authorized intent even without direct consent for each purchase.
The Intent ID and token can also assist companies in managing fraud prevention and dispute resolution. American Express is currently in discussions with partners across the payments ecosystem to implement the ACE framework, which includes agentic tokens containing Amex’s payment credentials.
The Bottom Line
American Express plans to actively develop the ACE framework further as the agentic commerce ecosystem evolves. The company’s VP of Agentic Partnerships and Strategy, Hannah Bozian, is scheduled to discuss the Intent Intelligence Framework in more detail at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Industry Stage on October 13.