Stripe bets on AI agents as economic participants, not just cost-cutters

Most companies talk about using AI to trim headcount or automate spreadsheets. Stripe is taking a different approach: building infrastructure so AI agents can actually spend money. At Stripe Sessions 2026, held in late April, the company’s President of Product and Business, Will Gaybrick, unveiled 288 new products designed to treat AI agents not as back-office tools but as active participants in commerce. Wallets for robots, payments for machines The centerpiece of the announcement is Link wallets for AI agents. These wallets allow agents to make purchases using one-time-use card authorizations, meaning the full payment credentials are never exposed to the merchant or the agent itself. Gaybrick framed the gap bluntly: “If AI can solve Nobel level physics problems but can’t buy a domain, something’s gone wrong.” The product lineup also includes partnerships with Google’s Gemini, building on existing integrations with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta. These collaborations let businesses accept payments directly inside AI-powered applications, rather than routing users out to a browser or traditional checkout flow. Streaming payments and stablecoin micropayments Stripe’s new streaming paym...