Ant International has joined the launch of Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard that sets out how AI agents and commerce systems exchange information across shopping and post-purchase support.
The Universal Commerce Protocol, known as UCP, defines a common set of messages for agents, consumer services, merchants and payment providers. Google said UCP works across the full shopping journey, from product discovery and checkout through to customer service after a purchase.
Google positioned UCP as a way to reduce the number of bespoke integrations required for agent-driven shopping. It said the protocol allows agents to interact with participating systems through a shared interface rather than separate connections for each agent and merchant pairing.
Compatibility focus
Google said UCP aligns with several existing standards efforts in the emerging agentic commerce space. It described UCP as compatible with Agent2Agent, Agent Payments Protocol and Model Context Protocol.
Ant International has already engaged in agentic commerce standards work through Agent Payments Protocol, also known as AP2. The company said it continues to invest in protocols and partnerships that target automated transactions between intelligent agents.
"For agentic commerce to scale, it's critical for the industry to align on a common set of standards. We are proud to have Ant International endorse the Universal Commerce Protocol as the foundation for that future," said Ashish Gupta, VP/GM, Merchant Shopping, Google.
Google surfaces
Google described UCP as part of changes to its AI-driven shopping experiences. It referenced the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search as examples of "AI surfaces" that can act as a shopping interface.
Google said these interfaces will move towards native checkout inside chat. It said a user can express shopping intent in a conversation and receive a selection of products. It also said a user can then complete payment within the same interface via "Pay with GPay".
The company did not specify a rollout schedule for UCP-enabled native checkout. It also did not provide details on merchant onboarding requirements or how dispute handling works across multiple agents and systems.
Ant's role
Ant International said it will focus on agentic commerce solutions for merchants. It said its work covers engagement, payments and risk controls.
"Ant International is thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Google and support the Agentic Commerce ecosystem. By leveraging our leading payment capabilities, Ant International is creating unique agentic commerce solutions for merchants by delivering merchant friendly, seamless user experience and end-to-end trust, ultimately driving business growth," said Jiang-Ming Yang, Chief Innovation Officer, Ant International.
Ant International described "control over algorithmic engagement" as one of the areas it is addressing. It said merchants can define how an AI agent represents brand offers, loyalty programmes and memberships during an AI-mediated shopping flow.
Ant International also highlighted payments that keep a customer within an agent interface. It referenced alternative payment methods and its relationships with digital wallets. It said Antom EasySafePay can keep users within an AI experience during shopping and checkout.
Risk and assurance
Ant International framed trust and fraud controls as central to agent-driven transactions. It said it aims to make user intent verifiable and transactions traceable, with clear accountability across participants in a payment lifecycle.
The company said EasySafePay uses Multi-Party Computation-based AI risk management and mobile device security systems. It said these tools identify and block fraudulent transactions. It also said it provides a money-back guarantee for payment partners in cases of account takeover fraud.
Scale and footprint
Ant International said its payment services and fintech products cover more than 200 markets. It said it connects 1.8 billion user accounts and 150 million merchants, with a focus on emerging markets across Asia Pacific.
The company also pointed to additional work with industry partners beyond UCP. It referenced ongoing collaboration on AP2 and programmes that pilot card-based transaction capabilities for AI agents with global card networks.
"For agentic commerce to scale, it's critical for the industry to align on a common set of standards. We are proud to have Ant International endorse the Universal Commerce Protocol as the foundation for that future," said Gupta.