Mastercard Launches AI-Powered Agent Pay in UAE, Pioneering Future of Payments

Editorial Team

Last updated 19-11-2025

3 min

Mastercard conducted its first Agent Pay transaction outside the US in the UAE.

This move marks a milestone in the UAE's digital economy, integrating AI into daily life.

The system focuses on transparency and security, aiming to build trustworthy commerce platforms.

The collaboration with Majid Al Futtaim could transform retail with AI shaping convenient and reliable systems.

The UAE, a tech hub, continues to innovate in secure digital commerce and advanced AI technologies.

Artificial intelligence has been creeping into our daily routines for years, but every now and then a new step makes you pause and think, “ah, so this is where the future is actually heading.” Mastercard’s latest move in the UAE is one of those moments. The company has just carried out its first Agent Pay transaction outside the US, teaming up with Majid Al Futtaim and the fintech firm Dataiera to test what agentic payments could look like in real life.

The announcement was made in Dubai with plenty of eyes on it, including those of Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications. He spoke about how the country has positioned itself as a global hub for cutting‑edge tech and how AI is increasingly woven into everyday life. From his perspective, bringing AI agents into payment systems isn’t just a fancy upgrade; it’s a proper milestone that pushes the UAE’s digital economy into its next chapter.

Once fully launched, cardholders will be able to use their own AI agents to do the legwork—searching, comparing and completing transactions via Mastercard Agent Pay. Booking cinema tickets at VOX Cinemas, for instance, could become a simple back‑and‑forth with your digital assistant instead of a bit of a faff scrolling through timings and seat maps. I reckon plenty of shoppers will welcome that if it works as smoothly as promised.

Mastercard’s Dimitrios Dosis put the focus on integrity, saying the system is designed around transparency, consent and security so that people and businesses can navigate this “agentic commerce” with confidence. On the flip side, Ahmed Galal Ismail from Majid Al Futtaim described AI as a transformative force shaping the future of retail across the region, adding that this partnership isn’t only about convenience but about building responsible systems that people can trust.

If you’ve followed the UAE’s tech ambitions, none of this will come as a shock. Mastercard and the government have already been working together on secure digital commerce, including launching a Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology in Dubai back in 2023. And believe it or not, that centre has quietly become one of the places where global payment innovation is getting tested before it reaches the rest of us.

As someone who often chats with startup founders for Arageek, I’ve seen how excited young teams are about anything that removes friction from digital transactions. One founder once told me over coffee that payments are “the invisible glue of the digital economy”—a phrase that stuck with me even if it sounded a bit dramatic at the time. Seeing AI agents stepping into this space feels spot on with that idea, even if I'm not entirely convinced every consumer will jump onboard straight away. Change takes time… you know?

Still, with partners like Majid Al Futtaim—whose ecosystem stretches from shopping malls to cinemas to full-on lifestyle communities—the rollout has a huge playground. And if this pilot picks up momentum, we might look back and realise this was the moment everyday payments quietly shifted gears. It’s definately one to watch.

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