Alipay Pushes Deeper Into AI Commerce With New Payment Infrastructure
Chinese fintech giant Alipay is stepping up its push into artificial intelligence-driven commerce with the launch of a new AI payment infrastructure designed to support what the company calls the emerging «agentic economy».
According to a media release published on Monday, Alipay introduced what it describes as the world’s first «AI Wallet» alongside a new service called «Token Pay», aimed at AI companies and developers. The announcement was made at the Alipay AI Payment Ecosystem Conference in Hangzhou.
The move marks a further step in Alipay’s strategy to position itself at the centre of AI-enabled commerce, where autonomous AI agents increasingly act on behalf of consumers and businesses.
AI Agents Become Commercial Actors
At the core of the initiative is Alipay’s AI payment ecosystem, which allows users to conduct transactions through AI agents using voice commands and automated workflows.
«While the essence of commerce remains unchanged in the age of AI, the emergence of AI agents is reshaping everything,» said Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group.
«Drawing on 22 years of technological expertise and commercial know-how, Alipay is building a new generation of AI payment services to accelerate the growth of the agentic commerce ecosystem,» he added.
The company said its AI-native payment products have already surpassed 100 million users since their launch in February 2026. According to Alipay, the system has processed around 300 million transactions to date, making it the first commercially scaled AI-native payment infrastructure globally.
New «AI Wallet»
A central part of the expansion is the newly introduced AI Wallet, which is now available through the Alipay app.
The product is designed to give users more oversight and control over transactions carried out by AI agents. Consumers can monitor tasks before and during payment execution and analyse spending behaviour afterward.
To strengthen trust in autonomous AI transactions, Alipay also launched what it calls China’s first «Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol», intended to create a standardised framework between AI systems and service platforms.
At the same time, the company introduced a dedicated intelligent security system aimed at protecting AI-driven transactions.
Token Pay Targets AI Companies
Alongside the AI Wallet, Alipay introduced «Token Pay», which the company describes as the industry’s first integrated payment solution tailored specifically to AI model companies.
The platform allows AI firms to manage subscription payments, token top-ups and related transactions globally through a single infrastructure.
Chinese AI firms MiniMax and Stepfun announced partnerships with Alipay during the conference and plan to integrate the payment system into use cases including memberships, marketing campaigns and token-based services.
«Payments play a crucial role in enabling tenfold growth in the AI industry,» said Weiqi Hu, Vice President of MiniMax.
«Together with Alipay, we will strengthen collaboration across multiple areas to accelerate the growth of AI commerce,» he added.
Payments Become Embedded Into AI
Industry observers increasingly expect payments to become a native feature within AI applications rather than a separate step in digital commerce.
«AI is redefining every layer of commerce,» said Lin Zhu, General Manager of Alipay’s AI payment business at Ant Group.
«As AI agents begin helping people search for information, shop, order food, and even make money, payments are no longer just the ‘final step’ — they are becoming a capability embedded from the very beginning,» Zhu said.
«Only when trusted transactions, seamless payments and secure controls are all in place can agentic commerce truly take off.»
Broad Expansion Across Industries
According to Alipay, its AI payment infrastructure is already being used across a wide range of sectors and devices in China.
These include AI-powered services embedded in retail apps such as Luckin Coffee, smart glasses produced by Rokid, Alibaba’s Qwen AI ecosystem, OpenClaw-style AI agents, smart vehicle cockpits, AI development platforms including Coze and Qoder, as well as so-called «One Person Companies».
The company also announced further investment into developer support programmes, including token incentives and zero payment-processing fees for individual AI developers.
With the latest rollout, Alipay is seeking to position itself not only as a payment provider, but increasingly as the financial infrastructure layer underpinning the next generation of AI-driven digital commerce.
