The news: Klarna and Affirm will be embedded within the Gemini app and Google Search AI Mode via Google Pay for in-chat checkout, per press releases.

Users will be able to check out with Klarna and Affirm without leaving the platform to complete a purchase on a retailer’s web page. 

The integrations are powered by Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).

How we got here: Google, Klarna, and Affirm are jockeying to get an early foothold for AI commerce and agentic commerce.

• Google launched Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) as an early all-purpose agentic rail.
• Klarna adopted the standard earlier this year to power backend agentic commerce transactions on its platform.

Both Klarna and Affirm are already integrated with Google Pay on Chrome for carts with values over $35.

Why this matters: By 2029, AI-platform-driven retail ecommerce sales will hit $144.45 billion in the US, per our forecast. The payment providers that partner with AI platforms and develop infrastructure that supports agentic commerce will receive the first windfalls from agentic shoppers and secure standard dominance for agentic rails.

This also boosts Pay’s usefulness, putting Apple Pay on notice to integrate deeper within AI and agentic commerce platforms. 

The tie-ups also help Klarna and Affirm become a familiar shopping layer for AI users, especially for big-ticket items like travel bookings: Nearly two-thirds of adult travelers younger than 45 would use AI for travel recommendations on their next trip, per Simon-Kucher’s Travel Trends 2026 report. With this same demographic also choosing which merchants on the basis of installment availability, Klarna and Affirm stand to clean up with users developing dual BNPL and AI habits.

Implications for payment providers: While the runway for AI-driven commerce is long, providers have the opportunity to make small investments now that could pay off in dividends in a few years. 

However, as payment providers gain more power in shopper’s discovery process, they need to assure retailers that integrations with AI platforms won’t water down their loyalty programs’ potency.