American Express has announced the Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) Developer Kit, a technical framework designed to bring American Express cards and membership services into AI-powered commerce, alongside Amex Agent Purchase Protection, a commitment to protect Card Members from charges resulting from registered AI agent error.
The ACE Developer Kit provides select developers with access to five integrated services: agent registration to verify and authorise AI agents on the Amex network; account enablement to allow Card Members to register cards for agentic transactions; intent intelligence to capture purchase intent for authentication, authorisation, and dispute support; payment credentials enabling verified agents to complete payments using tokenized credentials; and cart context sharing to optimise validation and dispute investigation before or after a transaction.
Agent purchase protection and closed-loop advantage
Amex Agent Purchase Protection is described by the company as an industry first. If a Card Member authorises a registered AI agent to make a purchase and the agent transmits authenticated purchase intent to American Express, the company will protect eligible customers from charges arising from the AI agent's error. The protection applies to future eligible transactions and is designed to extend American Express's established customer backing model into the agentic commerce context.
The company's closed-loop network, operating simultaneously as issuer, network, and acquirer, provides direct relationships with Card Members and merchants and end-to-end transaction visibility. American Express argues this structural position gives it an advantage in managing the challenges agentic commerce presents, including intent-driven authorisation, fraud protection, and dispute resolution.
Beyond the developer kit, American Express is pursuing three strategic priorities in agentic commerce: embedding payment capabilities into AI ecosystems, making membership assets, including Resy restaurant booking and Amex Offers, discoverable across AI platforms, and building proprietary AI-powered experiences within its own platforms.
Talking about the move, Luke Gebb, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Innovation at American Express, said the ACE Developer Kit enables trust and control in AI-powered commerce, and that Amex Agent Purchase Protection ensures Card Members are backed when an agent acts on their behalf with authenticated intent.
