Klarna on Monday (Oct. 13) announced that it is expanding its partnership with Google to support the new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard designed to enable secure, AI-driven payments. The collaboration builds on Klarna’s existing integrations with Google and reflects both companies’ efforts to align around intelligent commerce and automation.
Framework for AI-Led Payments
AP2 establishes a shared framework for how agents can safely initiate and complete transactions on behalf of users. It defines how authorization, identity verification and tracking should function when an artificial intelligence assistant, chatbot or automated workflow carries out a purchase, ensuring each transaction remains consistent and auditable across platforms.
Google developed AP2 as part of a broader effort to enable AI-driven commerce, where autonomous agents can not only recommend products but also complete purchases under clear, user-defined permissions. PYMNTS reported that AP2 is designed as an open, cross-industry protocol supporting multiple payment methods and providers. Klarna said it is helping test and operationalize the standard in real-world environments, translating agent-led payment requests into verified checkouts.
“Agent-led commerce represents an exciting new frontier, one that demands transparency, trust, and smarter payment experiences,” Klarna Chief Commercial Officer David Sykes said in the Monday announcement. “We’re doubling down on our long-standing relationship with Google to support their work with AP2 and help define an open, responsible payments architecture for the future of shopping.”
Expanding AI Capabilities Through Google Cloud
The partnership also extends Klarna’s use of Google Cloud’s AI tools to personalize shopping, automate marketing content and strengthen fraud detection. PYMNTS reported that Klarna piloted Google’s generative AI models, including Veo 2 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, to automatically generate visuals and recommendations. Early pilots led to a 15% increase in app engagement and a 50 % rise in orders.
Klarna is also training graph-based machine learning models on Google Cloud to analyze links between users, devices and transactions. The company said these models help detect anomalies faster and reduce fraudulent activity without adding unnecessary friction for legitimate users.
Processing nearly 3 million transactions per day across more than 790,000 merchants, Klarna’s scale allows it to test how AI-initiated payments can be validated and executed at checkout. The company’s position at the payment layer enables it to serve as a bridge between AI systems that initiate transactions and the networks that settle them.
Building the Infrastructure for Agent-Led Commerce
Klarna said combining AP2 and Google Cloud technology advances its goal of becoming a core infrastructure provider for AI-driven commerce. The collaboration aims to establish a secure, scalable foundation for agent-led transactions with built-in consent, authentication and settlement standards.
Klarna’s support follows similar moves across the payments industry as providers explore how to enable agent-led transactions. PYMNTS reported that Affirm has joined the AP2 framework to embed buy now, pay later (BNPL) capabilities into agentic commerce flows, while PayOS and Mastercard recently completed the first AI-initiated payment using a connected wallet and tokenized network integration.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/
