Illustration: AI
AI assistants could start making pre-approved purchases in Kazakhstan as early as 2027, according to National Bank Deputy Chairman Binur Zhalenov. These payments would stay within a set budget, and the National Bank is already working on the infrastructure to support them (kursiv.media).
What happened
Zhalenov, who oversees the National Bank’s digital transformation, shared his forecast on social media. He believes AI agents — assistants that carry out tasks for people — will pay bills, buy supplies and renew subscriptions. Booking business trips was another scenario he outlined.
Zhalenov used buying a plane ticket as an example: “Buy a ticket to Almaty for Friday. After six in the evening, with baggage, for up to 60 thousand tenge.” He predicts that the assistant will compare options, check the terms and pay for the purchase within the set budget.
“I think delegating tasks like these to AI will start to become commonplace in 2027,” the National Bank deputy chairman said. He calls this form of payment agentic payments: an AI assistant pays for a purchase on a person’s behalf.
What this means for shoppers and businesses
Zhalenov believes agentic payments will be particularly convenient for businesses that already have budgets and approval rules in place. This will free up employees’ time.
For everyday purchases, he predicts that AI will more often recommend options, while people will confirm purchases themselves. Autonomous payments will emerge where the price, terms and acceptable options have been defined in advance.
Asking an assistant to find a good hotel does not mean authorizing it to pay for any option it likes. Such transactions therefore need limits and a way to revoke instructions. The question is exactly which actions a person will authorize their assistant to carry out.
What the National Bank will work on
According to Zhalenov, ordinary bank accounts and cards, as well as stablecoins, will be suitable for agentic payments. Instant payments and Open Banking provide the foundation for developing this form of payment.
The next step is to create a mechanism that will allow people to securely delegate payments to an AI assistant, regardless of which bank they use. Zhalenov called this the next stage in the development of Kazakhstan’s payment infrastructure. “That’s what we’ll work on,” he said.
