Visa, the global payments giant, is doubling down on its commitment to artificial intelligence (AI) in commerce and settlements. They have unveiled a new initiative on October 2nd, dedicating $100 million to invest in companies specializing in generative AI technologies and applications related to commerce and payments.
The investment program will be managed by Visa Ventures, the company’s global corporate investment arm, which has been actively supporting innovation in payments and commerce since 2007.
Generative AI is a branch of AI technology capable of producing a wide range of content, spanning text, imagery, audio, and synthetic data. Leading AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard demonstrate the prowess of generative AI in comprehending and generating human-like text.
Visa has a long history with AI in payments, being one of the pioneering firms to embrace AI for risk and fraud management as early as 1993. Their commitment to AI continues, with Visa’s real-time payment fraud monitoring solution, Visa Advanced Authorization, credited with preventing an estimated $27 billion in fraud in 2022.
In 2021, Visa introduced VisaNet +AI, a suite of AI-based services aimed at resolving issues related to managing account balances and daily settlement processes for financial institutions. Among the tools in this suite is Smarter Stand-In Processing, which enhances payment experiences during outages by replicating issuer approval decisions, and Smarter Posting, designed to accelerate consumer payment processes while reducing confusion from posting delays.
Beyond AI, Visa has shown a keen interest in cryptocurrency technology for payments. In April 2021, the company revealed plans for a new crypto product geared toward mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments, underscoring their commitment to staying at the forefront of payment technology innovation.
