Visa, the global leader in payments, has unveiled its ambitious plans to allocate $100 million to the field of generative AI, marking a strategic move to nurture startups and companies revolving around these emerging technologies in commerce and payments. Supervised by Visa Ventures, its corporate investment branch, this initiative underscores the company’s ongoing pursuit of innovation in the payments landscape since 2007.
Visa and AI: A long-standing symbiosis
Visa is no stranger to the revolutionary ripples of AI in the finance field. Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product Officer, has laid out the profound implications of generative AI in reshaping the commercial arena, emphasizing the critical need to discern its imminent impact. Reflecting on its past, Visa announced the era of AI in payments as early as 1993, primarily using it for risk mitigation and fraud detection. Visa’s flagship solution, Visa Advanced Authorization, now boasts having thwarted fraud attempts estimated at $27 billion.
Another notable advancement in Visa’s AI journey was the unveiling of VisaNet +AI in 2021. This suite, an amalgamation of AI-powered services, addresses daily settlement issues and ambiguities for financial institutions. Among its suite offerings, Smarter Stand-In Processing stands out, designed to enhance payment experiences during disruptions by emulating issuer approval protocols. Their Smarter Posting tool is another string to their bow, designed to expedite consumer payment journeys and mitigate the impact of posting delays.
Visa is not limited to AI alone in its innovations. Its proactive stance towards cryptocurrency technologies demonstrates this. In April 2021, Visa unveiled a crypto-oriented strategy, with the ambition to facilitate the adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments.
