Some of the world's biggest technology, retail and payments companies are joining forces to tackle a growing problem: how should personal AI agents interact with businesses when they are acting for a real customer?
Meta and enterprise technology company Sierra are developing the Personal Agent Protocol, an open standard backed by companies including Walmart, Stripe, Shopify, Genesys, Rocket and Instinct. The initiative was announced on October 6 and is already drawing attention across the technology industry.
The idea is to give businesses a standardized way to recognize when an automated agent is visiting a website or service on behalf of a customer and determine exactly what that agent is authorized to do.
Sierra co founders Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor said the system is being designed around authentication, consumer control and clear limits set by businesses.
For example, an AI agent could initially access a retailer as a guest to check whether a product is available. If the customer later authorizes it, the same agent could sign into an account, modify an order or potentially complete a purchase.
The protocol uses OAuth, a widely adopted authorization framework. Customers could grant an agent read only access or permission to perform actions, while businesses would retain control over what services are available to automated agents. Sierra says future payment extensions could also allow purchases without exposing a customer's credit card information directly.
The initiative comes as personal AI agents increasingly move beyond answering questions and begin performing tasks for users. Genesys CEO Tony Bates described personal AI as creating a new entry point between consumers and businesses, requiring companies to understand who an agent represents and what it has permission to do.
A first version of the technical specification is expected later in October, according to CMSWire, followed by workshops and a reference implementation.
