Alipay AI Pay has launched a delegated purchasing capability on Taobao, enabling users to authorise AI to complete transactions on their behalf.
According to the official press release, the capability is built on a single-use authorisation model, positioning it as a step towards agentic commerce at scale.
How the delegated payment model works
The feature integrates Alibaba's Qwen large language model with the Taobao shopping application. When a user instructs the AI shopping assistant to find a product ( for example, leggings at a target price), Alipay AI Pay generates a one-time delegation specific to that transaction. The user then completes identity verification, after which the AI monitors prices and places the order once conditions are met. Each authorisation is valid for a single purchase only, meaning no open-ended payment mandate is created.
In addition, the process requires three steps within the Taobao app: accessing the AI Shopping Assistant via the Messages tab, selecting a preferred item from AI-curated options, and completing identity verification through Alipay AI Pay to confirm the order.
Alipay has indicated plans to extend the capability to a broader set of recurring purchase scenarios, including daily commuting, utility payments, and repeat procurement, though no specific timeline has been provided for those expansions.
Scale and ecosystem context
Alipay AI Pay was launched in 2025 as an AI-native payment product supporting transactions executed through AI agents via voice command. The product has expanded across a range of integration types, including AI agents embedded in apps and mini-programmes for traditional retailers such as Luckin Coffee, AI-enabled smart glasses such as those produced by Rokid, and consumer-facing AI applications, including Alibaba's own Qwen platform.
The delegated purchasing model draws a parallel with existing automatic payment arrangements used for recurring expenses such as utility bills, where pre-set conditions trigger payment execution without manual intervention. In the context of AI-driven commerce, the same logic is applied to discretionary purchases, with price targets replacing fixed billing schedules.
The single-use, single-instruction authorisation framework appears to be designed in order to address consumer concerns around open-ended AI spending mandates, a consideration that regulators and platforms alike are likely to scrutinise as agentic payment use cases expand across the globe.
