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Now, Liu argues, the interface is shifting.
“In the past, you went to a search engine, you browsed, you clicked,” he says. “Now people spend a lot of time chatting with agents.”
Protocols such as Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) aim to allow merchants to expose products within AI conversations, and buyers to complete their purchases natively within the AI chat window. For Antom, the mission is straightforward: to ensure that payments work securely and seamlessly within this new environment.
“Our job is to make sure that merchants can conduct business and consumers can make payments inside these new protocols,” Liu explains. “We want our payment services deeply embedded into them.”
Yet AI-mediated transactions introduce new layers of complexity. In a traditional model, a consumer manually enters payment details and executes the transaction. In an agentic model, an AI assistant may act on a user’s behalf.
That reality raises a critical question: when something goes wrong, who bears the risk?
Historically, card schemes’ chargeback mechanisms have largely protected consumers, which in some cases place greater responsibilities on merchants. Liu believes replicating that dynamic in an agentic world could discourage merchant adoption.
“Merchants are already the one to blame most of the time,” he says. “Now you add more variables – the AI agents.”
Antom’s answer has been to strengthen its own risk management framework and, in certain cases, step in to provide additional safeguards. Through its EasySafePay solution, the company aims to protect consumers from fraud and account takeover while reducing the burden on merchants. The confidence to take that stance, Liu adds, comes from technology and data.
“As we move into the agentic world, operators need to beef up their risk management capabilities to better manage the trust issues between buyers, sellers, and now the new participants involved – the AI agents. We’re confident in our ability to manage it.”
Shaping Tomorrow
While AI is reshaping how transactions begin, how they are completed depends on offering consumers the payment methods that work best for them.
“The trend is very clear,” Liu says. “If you only offer cards, you’re missing a significant chunk of potential customers, particularly in emerging markets.”
Across Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe, local wallets, real-time bank transfers, QR systems and account-to-account payments often dominate. Unlike card schemes, which operate under harmonised global rules, these alternative methods vary widely in refund processes, settlement timelines and foreign exchange handling.
“In the card world, the schemes harmonise everything,” Liu notes. “In the alternative payment world, there is no scheme. Hundreds of payment methods, each with their own rules.”
For large enterprises choosing a payment partner, this fragmentation presents both opportunity and complexity. Antom positions itself as an integrator, connecting to a broad range of payment methods, including credit cards, bank transfers and wallets, and absorbing operational differences on behalf of merchants.
“Someone has to take ownership of that worry,” Liu says. “We are doing it.”
Small and medium-sized enterprises face a different challenge. Historically, servicing smaller merchants was expensive relative to revenue potential, leading many institutions to focus on large enterprises. Liu believes AI changes that equation.
“With AI tools, the cost-benefit analysis needs to be recalculated,” he says. “You don’t need large, complex organisations any more. Individuals supported by AI can build things that used to take years.”
To support merchants of all sizes, Antom introduced Antom Copilot, an AI-powered service providing 24/7 assistance. Instead of relying solely on human account managers, merchants can interact with AI agents capable of resolving integration issues, chargeback disputes and risk management queries.
“In the past, it was impossible to serve millions of merchants if I only had hundreds of staff. By leveraging AI, we can bridge that gap and extend our reach.”
He also sees advantage in Antom’s relative youth. In areas such as open banking and account-to-account payments – which lower acceptance costs for merchants – established processors may hesitate due to potential cannibalisation of their higher margin businesses.
“We are well positioned to embrace the next generation of payments,” Liu says. “We aim to bring new payment forms that benefit merchants, consumers and the wider ecosystem.”
Lessons that Last
Before joining Ant International nearly a decade ago, Liu spent years in investment banking and private equity. Both roles, he says, revolve around anticipating change and allocating resources accordingly.
“Investment is about resource allocation,” he explains. “As a CEO, it’s the same – you put resources into the right teams, the right products, and you look forward.”
But if there is one principle that defines his leadership philosophy, it is experiential openness.
“It’s so important to try new innovations. When something new comes up, a natural reaction is to ignore it or push back, but until you actually try it, you just won’t know its potential impact.”
He challenges executives who speak confidently about AI to go beyond theory. “Have you actually used it? Have you really experienced what it is capable of, and what it can and cannot do?” he asks.
For Liu, embracing new technologies does not mean blind optimism. It means disciplined experimentation – understanding both potential and limitation before forming conclusions.
The agentic era of commerce, he believes, will coexist with traditional channels for years to come. Search will not disappear overnight; cards will not vanish. But as consumer behaviour evolves, commerce and payments infrastructure must adapt.
“If you’re here to embrace it,” Liu says, “you’re here to win.”
In a sector built on trust, scale and resilience, that willingness to engage, rather than defend, may prove to be Antom’s most significant competitive advantage.
