// GLOSSARY -- PAYMENTS & FINTECH
What is AI-Initiated Payment?
A payment transaction that is triggered, authorised, and completed by an AI agent acting on delegated authority, without a human present at the point of transaction.
WHY IT MATTERS
This is the defining characteristic of agentic payments: the human is not in the loop at transaction time. The agent decides to pay, selects the payment method, and completes the transaction autonomously.
AI-initiated payments are fundamentally different from human-initiated digital payments because the decision-maker is non-human, creating new requirements for spending controls, fraud detection, and regulatory compliance.
HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS
PolicyLayer exists because AI-initiated payments need governance. Every AI-initiated payment should pass through policy enforcement before execution.