AI that can shop and pay on its own successfully tested in South Korea

LG CNS

SEOUL, January 22 (AJP) - South Korean IT services firm LG CNS has completed what it says is the country’s first demonstration of an automatic payment system in which artificial intelligence not only chooses what to buy but also pays for it, using a blockchain-based digital currency platform overseen by the central bank.

The test, conducted with the Bank of Korea, linked so-called “agentic AI” — software designed to act autonomously once given a goal — with digital deposit tokens as part of Project Hangang, the central bank’s pilot program for a potential BOK digital currency.

The goal, according to LG CNS on Thursday, was to explore whether autonomous AI agents could safely and efficiently handle real-world payments, a step toward a future in which machines increasingly transact with one another with little or no human involvement.

To illustrate the concept, the company used a scenario familiar to many freelancers: a digital content creator searching for images or audio clips for a project. Typically, that process involves navigating multiple platforms, comparing prices and quality, and repeatedly logging in to complete payments.

In the demonstration, those tasks were handled by two AI programs — a “buyer agent” and a “seller agent.” After a user delegated authority, the buyer agent searched for suitable content, compared options, selected a product and completed payment by transferring digital deposit tokens to the seller’s electronic wallet on the blockchain platform, LG CNS said.

Industry officials are watching such experiments closely as interest grows in “agentic commerce,” a model in which AI agents act on behalf of users or companies and increasingly transact directly with each other. Proponents argue that as AI-driven transactions multiply, demand will rise for small-value, high-frequency payments that are inefficient for humans to manage manually.

LG CNS said blockchain-based digital currencies could provide an alternative to traditional card payments or bank transfers in such settings, offering lower fees and near-instant settlement.

The company serves as the Bank of Korea’s main contractor for Project Hangang, leading blockchain technology development and platform construction. As part of the initiative, LG CNS previously conducted a real-transaction test of deposit tokens from April to June last year involving about 80,000 customers at seven commercial banks.

The company said it is preparing a follow-up pilot to distribute government subsidies through a digital-currency platform and is expanding into other blockchain-based finance businesses, including tokenized securities.

“We have confirmed the technical feasibility of an automatic payment structure using agentic AI,” said Kim Hong-geun, vice president and head of LG CNS’s digital business division. “We will continue to support the Bank of Korea as a technology partner as it prepares future payment infrastructure.”
Seon Jae-kwan 기자 seon@economidaily.com

- Copyright ⓒ [아주경제 ajunews.com] 무단전재 배포금지 -