AI Payments Map

AI Payments Map is a structured knowledge base about how payments change when they are increasingly initiated or shaped by software. It brings together core concepts, a map of the stack, active protocols, market notes, and the logic of deciding whether a payment should go through before execution.

What this map covers

• How AI-initiated payments differ from conventional ones, and what changes in the transaction lifecycle when software becomes part of initiation.
• The six-layer model of the payments stack — from initiation to execution.
• The active protocols (AP2, ACP, UCP, x402, agent identity schemes) and what each one actually solves.
• The distinction between pre-execution policy and post-initiation fraud scoring.
• Market-specific notes, starting with Russia.

Start with

• New to the topic → What are AI payments?
• Evaluating infrastructure → Execution infrastructure vs the decision layer
• Comparing protocols → AI payments protocols
• Looking at Russia → AI payments in Russia

Foundations

Category-defining explainers and core concepts. The pages are linked to one another and revised as new facts emerge.

• What are AI payments?
• AI-initiated payments
• The payment decision layer
• Execution infrastructure vs the decision layer
• Why fraud tools are not payment decisioning

Stack

How the pieces fit together.

• The AI payments landscape — the six-layer reference model.

Protocols

Vendor-neutral reference pages on active standards and specifications.

• AI payments protocols

Markets

Country-specific explainers.

• AI payments in Russia

Glossary

• Glossary of terms

Recently updated

• 2026-04-18 — Initial publication.

Change log

• 2026-04-18 — Initial publication.