Meta, Walmart, Sierra launch personal agent protocol
Meta and Sierra, led by chairman Bret Taylor, have announced the Personal Agent Protocol (PAP) for AI-agent interactions with businesses, with initial partners including Walmart, Shopify, Stripe, Genesys, Rocket, and Instinct. PAP defines three access levels (guest, read-only, and write access) built on OAuth and places businesses in charge of vouching for consumer AI agents, differentiating it from rival designs by Visa, Mastercard, and AI platforms. The protocol aims to control customer data and liability in agentic commerce, with future implications for agentic payments. However, PAP is still in early stages: no specification, license, or governing body exists, and payments are not yet supported. Version 0.1 is expected this month, with payments and fine-grained permissions planned later. Notably, Amazon, Google, and OpenAI are absent, reflecting Meta's competitive positioning, especially after Amazon blocked Meta's Muse agent. The protocol competes with OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol and Google's Universal Commerce Protocol.