3 6 Ke·2025-09-18 11:16Core Insights - The article discusses the launch of the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) by Google, which aims to enable AI agents to conduct transactions autonomously, marking the beginning of a trillion-dollar "Agentic Commerce" era [1][7]. Group 1: Challenges of AI Agents in Transactions - AI agents face a significant barrier to autonomous transactions due to the lack of trust in the existing financial payment systems, which are built around human behavior [3][4]. - Three critical questions arise regarding trust: authorization (how merchants can verify the AI agent's legitimacy), authenticity (how to ensure the order reflects the user's true intent), and accountability (who is responsible in case of errors) [4][6]. Group 2: Evolution of AI Payment Protocols - The AP2 protocol is the final chapter in a three-part series aimed at integrating AI into the economy, following the MCP (Agent-to-Tool) and A2A (Agent-to-Agent) protocols [7][8][13]. - MCP allowed AI agents to interact with external tools, while A2A enabled communication between different agents, setting the stage for AP2 to facilitate economic transactions [11][16]. Group 3: Mechanism of AP2 - AP2 introduces a "digital evidence chain" that includes a "mandate" system, which serves as a legally binding digital contract for each transaction [17][19]. - The process involves generating an intention mandate, a shopping cart mandate, and a payment association, ensuring that every transaction is authorized, factual, and accountable [20][21][22]. Group 4: Industry Collaboration and Future Implications - AP2 is an open-source protocol with over 60 initial partners, including major players in finance, e-commerce, and technology, indicating a collaborative effort to establish trust standards in AI commerce [24][26]. - The implementation of AP2 signifies a shift in commercial interactions, moving from human-driven interfaces to backend API-level negotiations between agents [26][27].