ACP, UCP and AP2: can an AI agent buy insurance?
ACP, UCP and AP2 are protocols that let an AI agent pay on someone's behalf. In a regulated sale, the payment is the last of several approvals the customer gives, and Marrow handles the ones before it, so the sale's in order by the time anyone pays.
- ACP
- UCP
- AP2
- agent payments
- 01Who's buyingThe customer, and any agent acting for themVisa and Mastercard agent schemes
- 02The factsConfirmed by the customer, not assumedThe sale itself
- 03The disclosuresShown in full and acknowledgedThe sale itself
- 04The choiceConfirmed by the customer themselvesThe sale itself
- 05The paymentAuthorised and takenACP · UCP · AP2
Where each one stands for insurance today.
- ACP
OpenAI and Stripe's protocol. ChatGPT uses it to find products, and since OpenAI wound down in-chat checkout in March 2026, purchases finish on the seller's own site.
- AP2
Signed payment mandates, from Google and contributed to the FIDO Alliance in April 2026. As of October 2026, no consumer assistant has shipped it.
- UCP
An open commerce protocol Google launched with Shopify, Etsy and others in January 2026. Google's own surfaces feed it from Merchant Center, whose rules exclude insurance, so it isn't a route to market for insurance today.
- Visa and Mastercard
Agent schemes that prove which agent is paying for whom. Both made their first live European payments in 2026.
In every channel today, customers finish the purchase with you, on your own site. The Marrow Standards map each protocol's approvals to the ones a regulated sale needs, so they can fit in at the end once an assistant supports them for insurance.
Where a checkout fits in a regulated sale.
- 01
The sale happens in the conversation.
The questions, the playback of what the customer said and your disclosures all come before anyone pays. They're the part of the sale a checkout protocol doesn't cover, and the part Marrow runs.
- 02
The customer approves it themselves.
They confirm what they're buying in a step they take themselves, never on an agent's say-so, and that confirmation goes into the record.
- 03
Then they pay, with you.
Today they finish the purchase on your own site, in every channel. This is the step a checkout protocol covers, and where one would fit once an assistant supports it for insurance.
What it means if you've been asked about ACP.
Payment stays with you
Customers finish the purchase on your own site, where your payments and documents already work.
The sale comes first
However a customer ends up paying, the questions, disclosures and record happen before it.
Mapped in the Standards
The Marrow Standards set out how these protocols' mandates line up with a regulated sale's approvals.
Approvals already on the record
Every approval the customer gives before paying is recorded, so a payment protocol has something to build on.
What people ask us about agentic checkout.
What's the difference between ACP, UCP and AP2?
ACP is OpenAI and Stripe's protocol for checkout in AI assistants. UCP is an open protocol Google launched in January 2026 with Shopify, Etsy, Walmart and others, and it's what Google's shopping surfaces use. AP2 is a way of proving the customer authorised a payment, through signed mandates, and UCP can use it.
Can a customer pay for insurance inside ChatGPT?
No. OpenAI wound down ChatGPT's in-chat checkout for most sellers in March 2026, and its rules only let apps sell physical goods, with the checkout on the seller's own site. Insurance customers get their quote in the chat and finish the purchase with you.
Does Marrow support ACP?
Not for payment, since no assistant supports paying for insurance through it. The Marrow Standards set out how these protocols' mandates map to the approvals a regulated sale needs, so the two can work together once one does.
Will one of these become the way insurance is bought through agents?
Possibly, for the payment. But a checkout only proves the customer authorised a payment. The questions, the disclosures and the customer's own confirmation still have to happen first, and none of that comes with the protocol.
Your customers won’t all arrive the same way.
ChatGPT and Claude
Your product inside the conversation, as an app in ChatGPT (where apps come inside plugins) or a connector in Claude.Personal agents
Agents like Instinct, Muse and Dots that go off and shop for someone, so your product's talking to an agent rather than to a person.WebMCP and browser agents
Agents that browse your website for someone. WebMCP lets your site hand them proper tools, so they're not guessing their way through your forms.Your website and WhatsApp
The same journey on your own site, or on your own WhatsApp Business number.
Talk to us about selling through AI agents.
We’d be glad to show you how it works with one of your own products.