The proposed format for lights out purchasing of print using AI agents has received the backing of the Printing United Alliance from North America and from the International Ghent Workgroup.
The original proposal that print needs to adopt a standard format within Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol came from the online printers organisation Initiative Online Print and quickly earned the support of Intergraf and German print organisation BVDM, followed by the organisations in Switzerland and Belgium as well as CIP4, custodian of the JDF standard.
The latest endorsement will accelerate adoption across the globe, even before the protocol has been written let alone tested. The protocol is scheduled to be ready for comments in September with early adopter testing at the end of this year or into next. Print will become the first industry to come up with an integration for Google’s format.
This intended to enable AI agents to search the entire web for suitable suppliers, negotiate a price and manage the order to delivery, without either side in the transaction necessarily knowing the identity of the other party.
It might be that the agent is instructed along the lines of “Create and order 500 business cards. Delivery next Friday. And as cheap as possible”. The AI would be capable of using existing collateral, identifying a supplier, placing the order within the criteria set. For this to work seamlessly, the printer has to structure information about themselves in a way that the AI can interpret it. This is a contrast to the human facing websites that are designed and arranged to engage with images, video and other engaging content.
While the UCP was conceived to help consumers with online retail with a catalogue of products and fixed prices, it therefore cannot directly be used for printed items where volumes, designs and prices will vary as well let alone the need for proofing and other interactions. This is the reason for the dev.ucp.print project which, once approved, will be accepted in the overall standard.
It is hoped to submit the industry’s project for approval in Q4 this year.
For IOP chairman Bernd Zipper “the UCP Print Vertical is the first step toward ‘Agentic Print,’ the next stage in the evolution of printing, in which AI agents independently research, configure, order, and pay for print products.
“For print service providers, this means they must structure their offerings so that they can be found, understood, and processed by AI agents. With an industry specific vertical for Google’s UCP, we’re providing print shops with the tools they need to do just that.”
The Printing United Alliance is the largest industry trade body in North America, running the eponymous trade show along with training and industry advocacy. Its CEO Ford Bowers says: “The way print will be found, ordered and processed in the future is becoming one of the most critical issues for our industry; and this is not just a technical issue, but one of industry policy.”
The Ghent Workgoup has developed standards for handling PDF for printing enabling smooth prepress workflows, giving an obvious interest in any opportunity to shape the industry’s response to the development of agentic AI.
