Skip to main content

Ant Group's Han Xinyi: The Agent Era Is Here

Ant Group's Han Xinyi: The Agent Era Is Here

At the 2026 Inclusion·Bund Conference, Han Xinyi, CEO of Ant Group, dropped a bombshell: the "ChatGPT moment" for intelligent agents has fully arrived. But this isn't just about chatbots getting smarter. It's about agents diving headfirst into real transactions, becoming the beating heart of commerce that connects what you want with what's actually available.

Think back to late 2022. ChatGPT showed the world what natural language interaction could feel like. Fast forward to today, and the game has changed again. Users are now handing over their real-life needs to agents without a second thought. That shift in behavior is quietly rewriting the rules of how business gets done.

From Traffic to Intent: The New Battlefield

Old-school commerce ran on standardized products and fixed pages. You reached customers through ads, exposure, and traffic games. But in the agent era, the starting point flips to the user's core intent. Merchants won't compete over who gets the most eyeballs anymore. The real question: can your service be understood by someone's agent and become the most trusted, best-matched provider?

Zhu Lin, General Manager of AI Payment at Ant Group, shared some eye-opening numbers. With AI exploding and smart devices everywhere, natural new interaction payments could blow past 50% within five years. And diverse smart device payments? Expect a tenfold jump.

But hold on. Scaling agent commerce isn't a walk in the park. The industry faces three fundamental challenges:

  • How can services be accurately understood and called by agents?
  • Can agents genuinely help users complete transactions?
  • After the deal, who authorizes, manages risk, and takes responsibility?

These aren't minor details. Who does the agent represent? Where are the authorization boundaries? How do you handle fund security and fraud? And when things go wrong, who's accountable? All of this needs clear answers.

AI Payment: The Trust Engine

Han Xinyi didn't mince words. The value of AI payment goes way beyond paying on behalf of users or simple auto-deductions. It's a "trusted commitment engine" for agent commerce. By making every transaction authorized, manageable, controllable, and traceable, users can entrust with confidence, and merchants can connect boldly. Together, they build a sustainable ecosystem.

To speed things up, Alipay announced a 10 million yuan development fund for life agent developers. The top annual single reward? A cool 1 million yuan. As agents start handling payments and transactions for real, the entire commercial ecosystem is poised for a massive burst of growth.

Key Points

  • Han Xinyi declares the agent era has arrived, with agents now deeply engaging in real transactions.
  • Commerce shifts from traffic and exposure to user intent, forcing merchants to become the most trusted, matching service providers.
  • AI payment could exceed 50% of new interaction payments within five years, with smart device payments growing tenfold.
  • Three challenges remain: service understanding, transaction completion, and post-transaction authorization, risk, and responsibility.
  • Alipay launches a 10 million yuan fund for life agent developers, with up to 1 million yuan per year for top rewards.