SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK — Buy now, pay later provider Affirm is expanding its partnership with payments company Stripe in a move the firms say will support emerging “agentic” commerce, allowing artificial intelligence assistants to complete purchases on behalf of consumers.
The expanded collaboration will support shared payment tokens (SPTs), a technology designed to allow AI agents to make purchases using a shopper’s authorized payment method without exposing sensitive financial credentials, the companies said in a joint announcement Tuesday.
Under the partnership, Affirm’s pay-over-time financing options will eventually be available at checkout within AI-driven shopping experiences. Consumers will be able to view the total cost of a purchase upfront and select a repayment plan even when an AI assistant is helping them browse and buy items online.
Merchants will be able to accept those payments through Stripe’s payment infrastructure on the backend, according to the companies.
‘Driving Conversion’
“Integrating Affirm into agentic payments helps businesses drive conversion while giving shoppers more choice in how they pay,” said Kevin Miller, head of payments at Stripe.
The companies said SPTs are designed to allow any merchant that offers Affirm financing to accept these transactions in agent-driven commerce flows when supported by the AI platform. That capability will initially be available for merchants that process payments directly through Stripe.
Later this year, the companies said, the functionality is expected to expand to merchants that offer Affirm but do not handle payments through Stripe.
Separate Partnership Announced
Stripe also announced a separate partnership with Klarna that will allow U.S. merchants using Stripe to offer Klarna’s flexible payment options at checkout. That arrangement will also be powered by shared payment tokens.
The expansion comes as companies across the payments industry explore “agentic commerce,” a model in which AI assistants can help consumers discover products, compare prices and complete purchases.
The rise of AI-driven transactions has also prompted discussion about new security frameworks. Industry analysts have suggested the emergence of “Know Your Agent” (KYA) standards — modeled after existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) compliance rules — to verify and monitor AI agents conducting transactions on behalf of users.
