Alipay has launched a business-facing AI payment processing product, completing a two-sided platform that lets AI agents buy and sell services without human checkout steps, and placing China at the center of a fast-moving shift in how digital commerce works.
How Alipay Turned One Consumer Product Into a Two-Sided Market
On April 28, 2026, Alipay launched a new AI payment processing product that enables businesses of all sizes, including One Person Companies (OPCs) in the Chinese mainland, to receive payments when autonomous AI agents purchase their services.
The product sits on the merchant side of Alipay’s existing AI Pay infrastructure. Small and medium-sized businesses do not need to build complex payment or settlement systems.
They onboard their services to the platform and receive payment each time an AI agent completes a purchase.
OPCs account for roughly 27 to 30 percent of all enterprises in the Chinese mainland.
The new product targets this segment directly, giving solo operators a payment rail they previously had to engineer themselves.
Early adoption confirms demand. Bocha, an AI-powered web search tool, has already deployed the paid skill on agents including Alipay Tbox and Hermes Agent.
When a user submits a request, the agent identifies the applicable fee, awaits user confirmation, and completes payment.
From Voice Command to 120 Million Weekly Transactions
The business product builds on a consumer layer that has moved well past the pilot stage. Alipay AI Pay, launched in 2025, is a payment solution that enables secure transactions through AI agents.
It expanded into use cases including AI agents in apps for brick-and-mortar retailers like Luckin Coffee, as well as AI smart glasses like Rokid and the Qwen app.
Alipay AI Pay surpassed 100 million users in February 2026 and processed over 120 million transactions during the week of February 5-11, 2026, becoming the world’s first AI-native payment product to reach these milestones.
The pace of that growth reflects a series of deliberate integrations.
In December 2025, Alipay collaborated with Rokid to let developers integrate AI payment into agents built on Rokid’s Lingzhu platform, using the MCP model so developers could deploy payment capabilities through natural language rather than complex coding.
In January 2026, Alipay launched the Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol with partners including Alibaba’s Qwen App and Taobao Instant Commerce.
On January 15, 2026, Alibaba’s Qwen App integrated Alipay AI Pay and Taobao Instant Commerce, giving users complete conversational commerce within a single chat session.
A user interacts with Qwen’s AI, orders food or retail products, and completes payment without a redirect to a checkout screen.
What the Agent-to-Agent Model Means for Merchants and Developers
The service enabling OpenClaw-type AI agents to make purchases requires no coding or complex setup and includes multi-layer security safeguards for every transaction.
OpenClaw-type agents, sometimes called “lobsters” in China, are autonomous tools that execute tasks on a user’s behalf.
Activation requires user initiation and identity verification. Each payment requires user authorization, and a 24-hour intelligent risk control system monitors every transaction.
Alipay also extends its Full Compensation account protection program to the new service.
The two products together, one consumer-facing and one business-facing, represent Alipay’s positioning as infrastructure for what the company describes as the agent economy.
What Comes Next
- Alipay is developing a new AI-driven open platform that integrates AI agents to deliver more personalized services and support digital transformation across China’s service sector.
- The business-facing AI payment product is live now at aipay.alipay.com, with rollout continuing across OpenClaw-compatible agents.
- The Alipay+ Wallet Tech team plans to build out additional agentic AI suites for different industries on Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit throughout 2025 and into 2026.
