In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) agents have gone from being a laboratory curiosity to a tool that many companies want to massively incorporate into their operations. We see them recommending products, writing texts, managing schedules, and now… making decisions for us in the consumer world. And we're not just talking about a chatbot that helps you with customer service. We're talking about intelligent systems that buy for you, make decisions for you, and, above all, learn everything about you.
One of the latest major companies to join this trend is VISA, none other than the company that manages the most payments worldwide. In an environment where purchasing habits are increasingly mediated by technology, VISA doesn't want to be left behind. And it seems interested in ensuring that your next purchasing agent isn't just from Amazon, Apple, or Google… but its own.
What is an AI agent and why does VISA want one?
An AI agent is basically software designed to act on behalf of a person. It learns your behavioral patterns, preferences, purchasing habits, schedules, and lifestyle, and with that information, it can do things for you: from suggesting a product to purchasing it directly without your intervention. Today, companies like Amazon are already experimenting with AI agents that can place recurring orders, choose brands based on your history, and manage everything automatically.
But for an agent to do all this, it needs to know everything about you: what you buy, when, how much you spend, how you pay, which brands you prefer, what you reject, how you manage your bank account, what subscriptions you have, whether you're in debt or not... In short, it needs access to your financial life. And that's where VISA has its eye.
VISA, which already knows a good portion of our transactions, sees a clear opportunity: if AI agents are going to decide our purchases, it wants to be the company that controls them. Not only to maintain their dominant position, but because whoever controls the consumer's "buyer brain" will control the digital consumer economy of the future.
Privacy, That Big Loser
Now, are we, as citizens and consumers, interested in having companies like VISA manage our AI agents? The answer, from my point of view, is a resounding no. Because these companies don't offer these systems out of altruism, or out of love for the customer. They do it because AI agents are a gold mine in terms of data.
With every decision your agent makes, VISA (or whoever developed it) will collect information about you. And that information doesn't necessarily stay with you. It can be sold, analyzed, used to create highly detailed behavioral profiles... and all of this translates into more money for the companies that "offer us help" in exchange for invading our privacy.
We're no longer talking about cookies or contextual advertising. We're talking about systems that could know more about us than we do about ourselves, anticipate our decisions, and invisibly shape our consumer behavior. In other words, we've gone from choosing what we buy to accepting what the agent decides for us, based on what a company wants us to do.
A super-Big Brother disguised as an assistant
I can't help but think of George Orwell's dystopia and his famous "Big Brother." But the truth is, we've surpassed ourselves: we no longer need a television set watching us. Today, all we need is an AI system in your phone, your computer, or your credit card. And behind that system, there are no authoritarian governments, but large technology and financial corporations that know exactly what you do, what you want, and what you'll buy next week.
The most worrying thing is that all this happens with our silent consent. We install apps, activate assistants, accept terms and conditions without reading them, and we're giving up entire areas of our privacy... in exchange for minimal convenience.
The future of payments or the end of personal autonomy?
VISA wants an AI agent to manage your payments. And it may succeed. But we should first ask ourselves: are we willing to give up so much power, so much information, so much privacy?
Because automating tasks is one thing, and automating our will is quite another.
Perhaps it's time to reflect on what role we want these companies to play in our lives. Not everything that technology enables should be accepted without debate. And while it may seem convenient for someone (or something) to buy for us... the real price may be too high.
And what do you think, dear friend?
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