Amazon Web Services Inc. today debuted a set of features that artificial intelligence agents can use to make purchases.

The capabilities are available in preview through the cloud giant’s Amazon Bedrock AgentCore service. It’s a suite of tools that companies can use to build and maintain AI agents. Bedrock AgentCore also eases certain related tasks, such as sharing agent components between different development teams.

AWS says the new payment features support a wide range of use cases. A financial analysis agent could use them to purchase access to stock exchange datasets. A coding agent, meanwhile, might buy a subscription to a cloud-based development tool. In the future, AWS will enable agents to purchase items such as flight tickets on users’ behalf. 

Bedrock AgentCore’s payment toolkit uses a technology called x402 to complete transactions. The technology is based on the so-called status code feature of the HTTP protocol. The most well-known HTTP status code is the 404 error message that websites display if a page can’t be found.

When an AI agent connects to a paid service using x402, the service returns a 402 status code. The status code contains information on how the AI agent can buy access. After the agent follows the instructions and completes the transaction, it receives a proof of purchase. That proof of purchase enables it to access the paid content by refreshing the webpage.

Bedrock AgentCore enables AI agents to finance purchases using funds held in digital wallets. AWS has partnered with two digital wallet providers so far: Coinbase Global Inc., which developed the x402 payment technology, and Stripe Inc.’s Privy subsidiary. Agents can make payments using stablecoin or fiat. 

Bedrock AgentCore allows developers to set spending limits for each individual AI agent session. Additionally, observability features built into the service makes it possible to track agents’ financial activity. AWS plans to release more payment features over time, including support for additional protocols besides x402.

“There will soon be more AI agents transacting than humans, and they need money that’s built for the internet,” said Brian Foster, head of infrastructure growth and strategy at Coinbase.

AWS announced Bedrock AgentCore’s payment features today alongside a second financial sector milestone. The Amazon.com Inc. unit has inked a broad cloud deal with U.S. Bancorp that it describes as “one of the largest and most comprehensive banking modernization initiatives.” 

The NYSE-listed financial institution plans to move hundreds of internal workloads to AWS. Those applications perform payment processing, wealth management platforms and commercial banking tasks. Additionally, U.S. Bancorp will use AWS’ AI services to automate customer support workflows. 

Image: AWS