American Express Launches Intent Intelligence Framework to Prevent Unauthorized Purchases by Automated Bots

American Express has introduced a new security framework designed to capture and authenticate a customer’s purchase intent before an automated bot completes a transaction. Dubbed the Intent Intelligence Framework, the system starts with a Create Intent API. This tool records customer instructions, including maximum budgets, brand preferences, and specific merchant names.

The customer then authenticates their identity and signs off on the request. The system generates a unique Intent ID and a secure token containing the buyer's constraints, which replaces the actual credit card number at checkout. According to Amex Vice President Hannah Bozian, the framework pulls intent earlier into the transaction flow to stop mistakes before they occur.

For example, if a user asks an agent to buy a specific brand of sneakers but the bot orders a different brand instead, the system can block the purchase. Amex hopes the setup will become an industry standard as automated shopping grows, helping manage fraud prevention and dispute resolution.

The company stated it has not yet seen a rise in disputes due to automated commerce, but built the technology proactively.

Amex is currently discussing the framework with partners across the payments ecosystem and plans to develop the developer toolkit further as