The invoice, paid by the agent.
By Ellis Ward | November 13, 2026
Payment portals were built for humans. Authentication flows assumed a person behind a keyboard, which capped how far automation could reach. BILL, Visa, and Billtrust changed that in October. Their pilot is described as the first live deployment where an AI agent initiates and completes approved buyer invoice payments end-to-end through supplier portals.
The design is explicit about authority. The buyer approves a specific invoice. That approval defines the outer limit of what the agent can do.
How the Flow Works
The BILL Payment Agent uses Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory to access a supplier portal. Billtrust verifies the agent through the Visa protocol before granting entry. The agent carries tokenized credentials and operates within controls aligned to the buyer's payment instructions for that invoice only. Supplier payment rules still apply; the agent cannot override them. BILL founder and CEO Rene Lacerte described the agent's job on a November 5 earnings call.
A Different Model
Melio launched a competing network in June. Its agents sign into suppliers' existing systems without new enrollment, identify preferred payment methods, and return those details to match money to the specific invoice. The BILL-Visa-Billtrust model authenticates the agent through Visa's protocol before portal entry. Melio routes through the supplier's existing infrastructure.
What SMBs Actually Want
Demand for agentic payments exists but divides by task type. A PYMNTS Intelligence and Velera survey of 2,474 SMBs found 31 percent wanted AI to track expenses and bills; 21 percent wanted it to pay bills and invoices. Among consumers the spread was tighter: 22 percent wanted AI to track bills and subscriptions, 19 percent wanted it to pay them. More respondents want oversight than execution. The BILL-Visa-Billtrust control model is built to close that gap.
