The Challenge of Building Interoperable AI Commerce Infrastructure
As artificial intelligence reshapes the digital shopping landscape, a critical infrastructure gap has emerged: the absence of standardized protocols that allow AI agents, payment systems, and merchant platforms to communicate seamlessly. Without shared technical standards, the promise of frictionless AI-driven commerce risks fragmenting into siloed experiences that undermine consumer trust and limit merchant reach.
Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, is addressing this challenge by joining Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)—an open standard designed to unify AI agents and commerce systems across the complete shopping journey. This move extends Klarna’s recent support for Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and deepens a multiyear partnership spanning Google Pay, Google Store, Google Play, and Google Cloud infrastructure.
What Universal Commerce Protocol Enables for AI-Powered Shopping
UCP establishes a standardized framework that allows AI agents to facilitate end-to-end shopping experiences—from product discovery and purchase through post-purchase customer support. The protocol creates a common language for AI platforms, merchant systems, and payment providers to interact, enabling consumers to complete transactions naturally within AI conversations without switching between fragmented systems.
This interoperability matters because agentic commerce—where AI assistants proactively guide purchasing decisions—demands coordination across traditionally separate systems. Without open standards, each AI platform would require custom integrations with every payment provider and merchant system, creating exponential complexity that stifles innovation and consumer adoption.
Klarna’s Strategic Commitment to Open Commerce Standards
“As AI-driven shopping continues to evolve, it’s important that the underlying commerce infrastructure is built on openness, trust, and transparency,” said David Sykes, Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna. “Supporting UCP is part of Klarna’s broader work with Google to help define responsible, interoperable standards that support the future of shopping.”
Klarna’s technology currently serves millions of consumers with flexible payment options, real-time decisioning capabilities, and transparent terms designed to build checkout confidence. By supporting both UCP and AP2, the company is positioning its payment infrastructure to function seamlessly within emerging AI-powered shopping environments while maintaining the security and clarity consumers expect.
Industry Implications for Merchants and Payment Ecosystems
The collaboration reflects broader industry recognition that proprietary approaches to AI commerce create barriers that ultimately limit market growth. “Open standards like UCP are essential to making AI-powered commerce practical at scale,” said Ashish Gupta, VP/GM, Merchant Shopping at Google. “Klarna’s support for UCP reflects the kind of cross-industry collaboration needed to build interoperable commerce experiences that expand choice while maintaining security.”
For merchants, standardized protocols reduce technical overhead by eliminating the need to build separate integrations for each AI platform and payment provider. For payment companies like Klarna, UCP participation ensures their services remain accessible across diverse AI-powered shopping experiences rather than being locked out of closed ecosystems.
Building Trust Through Technical Transparency in Agent-Led Commerce
As agent-led commerce develops, the technical foundation matters as much as the user experience. Open standards like UCP provide the industry with a collaborative framework to explore how discovery, transaction processing, and payments can work cohesively across AI-powered environments—while preserving consumer protections and competitive dynamics that proprietary systems might undermine.
Klarna’s backing of UCP signals growing momentum toward an interoperable commerce ecosystem where trusted payment options function consistently across AI-powered checkout experiences, regardless of which AI agent or platform initiates the transaction.
About Klarna
Klarna is a global digital bank and flexible payments provider. With over 114 million global active Klarna users and 3.4 million transactions per day, Klarna’s AI-powered payments and commerce network is empowering people to pay smarter with a mission to be available everywhere for everything. Consumers can pay with Klarna online, in-store and through Apple Pay & Google Pay. More than 850,000 retailers trust Klarna’s innovative solutions to drive growth and loyalty, including Uber, H&M, Saks, Sephora, Macy’s, Ikea, Expedia Group, Nike and Airbnb. Klarna is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: KLAR). For more information, visit Klarna.com.
