Your customer spots the perfect product while on the go, scans the number to chat with an AI agent, asks a few questions to zero in on the right fit, and decides to place an order. Everything is seamless—until it comes time to pay. Suddenly, the natural conversation flow breaks. You have to text them a link or send them a form to enter payment details in an entirely different system.
It’s a moment that could build trust, but more often, it’s where you lose them. Clearly, payment processing is a clunky experience for both customers and businesses. Yet, for companies trying to bring AI into their e-commerce workflows, it’s been the norm for too long.
Until now.
Parloa’s new Payment Skill for AI agents and AI-assist solutions (for human agents) makes credit card payments a seamless part of the customer experience—without breaking conversation, context, or compliance.
The payment problem AI couldn’t solve (until now)
There’s growing interest in how AI could help optimize payments and reduce the kinds of inefficiencies that cause delays or failed transactions—and for good reason.
Customers expect a smooth, secure checkout experience, but AI agents who handle these orders can’t handle payment processing. That’s because payments demand deterministic behavior—something that large language models (LLMs) can’t guarantee 100% of the time.
Moreover, when you’re handling credit card data, you need to nail both customer experience and compliance, like meeting Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). One failed transaction or misstep, and you’re staring down potential fraud, security breaches, customer fallout, and regulatory penalties.
And these situations happen more often than they should. According to Experian, more than 214,000 reports of credit card fraud were recorded in the first half of 2024 alone. Security leaders know the risks, too—a Metomic survey found that 72% of CISOs are concerned that using generative AI could result in a security breach.
If the payment process isn’t both secure and seamless in AI-powered commerce initiatives, customers won’t convert. You risk abandoned purchases, broken trust, and reputational damage. More importantly, you’re leaving money on the table and sacrificing long-term growth.
Why most AI agents typically drop the ball at checkout
AI is transforming and enriching how businesses interact with customers, but payments present unique challenges. The same technology that makes AI agents great at conversational problem-solving is exactly what makes them less adept at handling sensitive payment data (without the proper guardrails).
- LLMs are not built for payments.
LLMs generate responses dynamically. That’s what makes them powerful for fluid, engaging conversations—but not ideal for high-stakes financial transactions, where 100% accuracy is non-negotiable. AI agents can’t afford to mishear numbers, fumble card details, or say a payment went through when it didn’t. - LLMs present security and compliance risks.
As we’ve covered, any business handling credit card details must also comply with PCI-DSS standards. If you get that wrong, you’re looking at regulatory fines, brand damage, or worse. That means AI agents that mishandle sensitive data could expose businesses to serious security gaps, like data breaches, and financial liability. - Traditional payment handoffs cause friction.
Today, most companies must transfer customers to an entirely different flow for payments — such as sending a link via SMS or redirecting to an online form. This creates several problems:
- Customers may need to re-enter information, disrupting the experience.
- Friction increases the likelihood of abandoned transactions.
- Lack of integration with existing AI agents limits flexibility and control.
- Customers may need to re-enter information, disrupting the experience.
What secure, AI-powered payments should actually look like
Let’s face it: Customers shouldn’t have to struggle through payments, and businesses shouldn’t have to worry about failed transactions—or compliance violations. A well-designed genAI-compatible payment system will:
- Keep payments separate from dynamic AI conversation handling so that sensitive financial data never touches an LLM
- Ensure a smooth, real-time payment process without making customers drastically shift gears
- Maintain AI memory after payment so the customer experience flows uninterrupted
- Follow strict PCI-DSS compliance to protect sensitive data
- Integrate with existing payment systems so businesses can route transactions through their preferred providers
How Parloa’s AI Agent Payment Skill makes that possible
A good AI-powered payment experience shouldn’t feel like a separate process. It should feel as natural as talking to a human—just faster, more secure, and built to scale.
That’s exactly what Parloa’s new Payment Skill for AI agents delivers. Instead of relying on an LLM to handle sensitive payment data, Parloa agents can hand off payment collection to a dedicated, PCI-DSS-compliant system without breaking the flow of the conversation. Here’s how it works:
- AI-led order creation
Let’s say a customer places an order through an autonomous AI agent. The agent would confirm the details, suggest relevant add-ons, and build the final order—and it’s all handled in one seamless conversation. - Secure payment handoff
When it’s time to pay, the AI agent checks if the customer wants to use a saved card or enter new payment details. From there, the call is securely transferred to Parloa’s PCI-DSS-compliant payment system, which collects payment information via their phone’s keypad (DTMF). - AI resumes the conversation without losing context
As soon as the payment is processed, the AI agent picks up right where things were left off—confirming the order, sharing tracking details, or answering any final questions. With the right underlying system, there’s no awkward modality transition, no need to re-explain anything, and no risk of the AI agent mishandling payment data.
The future of AI-powered financial transactions is already here
Payments have always been the challenging part of the AI conversation. Too risky. Too manual. Too disconnected from the rest of the experience. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
With Parloa’s Payment Skill for AI agents and Real Time Translation (for human agents), businesses can finally bring payments into the AI experience, without compromising flow, compliance, or control. And with the right structure in place—one that separates sensitive data from LLMs, stays PCI-compliant, and preserves context—you’ll unlock the next phase of AI-led commerce.
The bottom line? If your AI agent can handle the conversation, it should be able to handle the transaction, too.
