Ant Group CEO Says the ChatGPT Moment for AI Agent Commerce Has Arrived

At the 2026 Inclusion Conference in Shanghai, Ant Group CEO Han Xinyi said the "ChatGPT moment" for AI agent commerce has arrived. The key change is that AI agents are moving from showing off what they can do to handling real transactions. They are no longer just tools that answer questions or create content, but new business gateways that understand what users need, connect to real services, and help complete purchases.

Han noted that user behavior is changing, with more people handing real-life needs to AI agents. The starting point of business is shifting from standard products and fixed pages to user intent. In the future, merchants will compete not just for traffic and placement, but for whether their services can be accurately understood by user agents and become the most trusted, best-matched, and most reliable providers.

Data from Zhu Lin, General Manager of Ant Group's AI Payment unit, shows that within five years, more natural new interaction payments could account for over 50%, and payments via various smart devices will grow tenfold. Han stressed that AI payment's value is to serve as a trusted commitment engine in agent commerce, making the whole process authorizable, manageable, controllable, and traceable.

At the event, Alipay announced a 10 million yuan development fund for lifestyle agent developers, with a maximum annual single award of 1 million yuan.