American Express has unveiled an “Intent Intelligence Framework” to prevent unauthorised payments by AI agents. TechCrunch reported on Oct. 13 that the framework helps AI agents capture and authenticate a user’s purchase intent before completing a payment.

As more AI agents make transactions on behalf of users, the risk of unapproved payments is also rising due to the non-deterministic nature of large language models (LLMs). American Express aims to ensure that a user’s purchase instructions are maintained from payment through post-processing stages through the Intent Intelligence Framework, with the goal of making it an industry standard for AI-based transactions.

The framework begins with a “Create Intent API.” The API contains a user’s purchase instructions, including conditions such as the merchant name, maximum budget and product preferences. The user then verifies their identity and reviews and approves the purchase intent gathered by the agent.

Once approval is complete, an intent ID, a unique identifier that represents purchase intent, and a “proof-of-intent token” containing higher-level conditions are created. Using this token, the agent receives secure digital payment credentials in place of the actual card number and uses them for payment. The intent ID and token are also used later in the transaction process and can help prevent fraud and resolve disputes.

American Express cited reflecting purchase intent from the early stages of a transaction as a differentiator. If a user asked for white Nike sneakers in size 9 but the agent tries to pay for an Adidas product, the system can block it, it said.