Author: Art Ryan

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — A new era of collaboration and innovation in global tourism leadership has begun as Patrick Torrent, Executive Director of NECSTouR (Network of European Regions for Sustainable and Competitive Tourism), has been elected President of the UN Tourism Affiliate Members Board during the 45th Plenary Session held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This milestone election took place alongside the 26th UN Tourism General Assembly, hosted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — marking a historic gathering celebrating 50 years of international tourism cooperation and innovation. Global Leadership for a Transformative Era Torrent’s appointment symbolizes a renewed focus on…

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – November 7, 2025 — The 26th UN Tourism General Assembly officially opened today in Riyadh, marking a defining moment for the global tourism community. This year’s gathering, held under the theme “AI-Powered Tourism: Redefining the Future,” celebrates 50 years of international cooperation while charting a bold new path driven by innovation, sustainability, and digital transformation. A Historic Milestone for Global Tourism For the first time in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia hosts the world’s largest tourism assembly, welcoming delegates from over 160 countries, including ministers, industry leaders, and innovators. The five-day event brings together policymakers and…

In a landmark move spotlighting the intersection of travel, technology, and sustainable growth, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) has unveiled its Global Artificial Intelligence Challenge, poised to reshape the future of tourism through deep-tech innovation. Launched in late 2024, the challenge seeks to bring start-ups and scale-ups into the heart of tourism transformation, offering AI-driven solutions that span everything from destination branding to operational efficiency and education. An Era of Tech-Infused Travel As international travel surges past pre-pandemic levels, the tourism industry faces a new frontier: how to blend human curiosity and cultural connection with digital intelligence.…

Tourism is entering a new era—one defined not only by destinations but by data, intelligence, and human connection enhanced through technology. This transformation takes the global spotlight in Riyadh, as the 26th UN Tourism General Assembly (UNTGA 2025) convenes under the forward-looking theme, “AI-Powered Tourism: Redefining the Future.” Hosted in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Tourism Authority, the assembly will welcome ministers, innovators, and leaders from more than 160 nations between 7–11 November 2025, marking the largest gathering in the organization’s 50-year history. AI and the Future of Global Tourism Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how the…

While stock markets fret over artificial intelligence (AI) valuations, finance teams are increasingly focused on its deployment. The evolution of AI in payments started across existing use cases, with models embedded in fraud detection, invoice matching and risk scoring. At first, these tools sat within well-understood parameters: “assistive” solutions designed to help human analysts find anomalies in sprawling datasets. But real gains are beginning to materialize as AI crosses over into proactive, and predictive, territory. Seen through the chief financial officer (CFO) lens, AI’s capacity to improve financial outcomes falls into three broad categories: operational, strategic and relational. Operational return on investment (ROI) comes…

BILL’s new artificial intelligence agents are already delivering quantifiable results for small and medium-sized businesses, executives said Thursday (Nov. 6) during an earnings call. The intelligent finance platform debuted its first AI agents on Oct. 28, saying they will autonomously collect and validate W-9s, reconcile receipts, accelerate user onboarding and carry out routine tasks for small businesses that are currently saddled with manual workflows. These agents “deliver automation capabilities that are transforming financial workflows from manual to touchless,” BILL CEO and founder René Lacerte said Thursday during the earnings call. Lacerte said BILL’s new agents are trained on the company’s dataset that includes over $1 trillion in…

CarGurus is looking to double its total addressable market by adding artificial intelligence-powered products that go beyond its existing automotive shopping site. The company’s growing range of AI-powered solutions for car dealers will expand its addressable market to include not only the $3.5 billion that U.S. dealers spend on marketplaces but also the $4 billion they spend on software and data products, CarGurus CEO Jason Trevisan said Thursday (Nov. 6) during the company’s third quarter earnings call. “We believe that our growing product suite positions CarGurus as an intelligence-driven partner that helps dealers optimize every stage of their workflow beyond simply marketplaces,” Trevisan said. CarGuru’s…

Expedia Group said its third-quarter results topped expectations as artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and partner connectivity helped the company capture growing global demand for travel. The results marked the strongest momentum in more than three years and prompted management to raise full-year guidance. CEO Ariane Gorin told analysts the company’s technology systems now operate as a “connected layer” linking travelers, supply partners, and data insights across every part of the booking journey. Gross bookings rose 12% to $30.7 billion, while revenue increased 9% to $4.4 billion. The company pointed to higher lodging and air prices, an improved demand environment and continued gains in marketing efficiency. Free…

Google introduced on Thursday (Nov. 6) new AI features to Google Finance, adding Deep Search, enhanced charting and prediction-market data. The update, outlined in Google’s blog, integrates the company’s Gemini models into its finance product and broadens beyond basic stock listings and headlines. Deep Search Adds Context to Financial Queries This new version of Google Finance allows users to type open-ended financial questions and receive AI-generated responses that include citations and links to supporting material. Deep Search performs multiple lookups across the web, aggregates results and displays a “research plan” explaining how the answer was formed. Users can open each reference…

Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) head has reportedly outlined the company’s vision for life after OpenAI. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Thursday (Nov. 6), Mustafa Suleyman discussed the company’s plans to create self-sufficiency from OpenAI, which is enmeshed into many of the products Microsoft offers to its customers. As the report noted, a recent deal between the two companies allows Microsoft to establish its new MAI Superintelligence Team, which will emphasize human interests and guardrails first, Suleyman said. The WSJ said he reiterated past warnings about AI’s possible risks. While praising OpenAI and the companies’ collaborations, Suleyman criticized the idea of treating AI systems as…

Companies’ investments in projects related to artificial intelligence are reportedly expected to fuel the debt issuance market through next year. U.S. investment-grade bond issuance could reach $1.7 trillion this year and $1.85 trillion in 2026, a Wells Fargo executive said Thursday (Nov. 6). Speaking with Bloomberg TV, Maureen O’Connor, global head of high-grade debt syndicate at Wells Fargo, said blue-chip companies are likely to borrow more to fund their artificial intelligence investments and to take advantage of favorable financing conditions, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Debt sales have benefited from investors seeking still-elevated yields and liability-driven investors like pension funds and insurance companies seeking long-maturity bonds, O’Connor…

Beyond headline-grabbing model launches, this week’s updates show AI moving into infrastructure and operations from IBM’s defense-ready models to Cisco’s edge platform and Nvidia’s work on AI-driven 6G connectivity. Nvidia Debuts 6G Wireless Stack At its annual GTC conference, Nvidia introduced the United States’ first AI-native 6G wireless stack, a new kind of software and chip platform that helps mobile networks manage themselves. Created with partners including Nokia, Cisco, Booz Allen Hamilton, MITRE and ODC, the system runs on Nvidia’s AI Aerial technology and lets antennas and cell towers use machine learning to predict congestion, balance data loads and automatically reroute traffic.…

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — November 2025 — The UN Tourism Global Artificial Intelligence Start-up Challenge 2025 is set to reach its thrilling conclusion at the UN Tourism Tech Adventure – Grand Final on 8 November 2025, held during the UN Tourism General Assembly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This global innovation initiative — led by UN Tourism — has brought together the world’s most promising AI-driven start-ups and innovators to shape a smarter, greener, and more inclusive future for the global travel and tourism industry. 📍 Venue: UN Tourism General Assembly, Riyadh 🇸🇦🗓️ Date: 8 November 2025⏰ Time: 13:00 – 14:30…

The Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative has released new research that challenges the idea that artificial intelligence requires an entirely new regulatory architecture. Instead, the study argues that global institutions can build on the safety and risk standards that already govern complex industries such as aviation, energy and finance. The paper examines how the emerging “frontier AI safety frameworks” being developed by major labs align with, and diverge from, established international standards such as ISO 31000 and ISO/IEC 23894. It concludes that the most effective approach is not to replace these standards but to adapt and extend them. “The question is not whether AI should…

Billtrust has added artificial intelligence (AI) powered collections agentic procedures to its automated collections software, Collections. The new Collections Agentic Procedures helps finance teams collect by learning from every customer interaction and recommending the most effective outreach strategy, the company said in a Thursday (Nov. 6) press release. Collections Agentic Procedures is powered by Billtrust Insights360, an embedded AI layer within the Billtrust platform that analyzes buyer behavior and delivers actionable insights, according to the release. With this network-wide behavioral data, Collections Agentic Procedures can segment buyers by risk and payment behavior and then recommend the optimal timing, frequency and channel for outreach to each…

Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million over one year to integrate its artificial intelligence-powered answer engine into Snapchat. This integration marks the first integration of an external AI partner directly into Snapchat as well as the first step in Snap’s effort to make the app a platform where AI companies can connect with its 943 million monthly active users, Snap said in a Wednesday (Nov. 5) press release. “This partnership reflects our shared vision for the power of AI to enhance discovery and connection on Snapchat, and we look forward to collaborating with more innovative partners in the future,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in the release.…

Artificial intelligence (AI) and cost-reduction caused American employers to cut 153,074 jobs last month. That’s a 175% jump from October of 2024 and 183% higher than the 54,064 cuts announced in September of this year, per a Thursday (Nov. 6) report by outplacement and executive coaching company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “October’s pace of job cutting was much higher than average for the month,” Andy Challenger, workplace expert and the company’s chief revenue officer, said in a news release. “Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive…

Apple is reportedly nearing a $1-billion-per-year deal with Google to power its long-awaited Siri upgrade. That deal would give Apple access to a powerful 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence (AI) model from Google, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (Nov. 5), citing sources with knowledge of the matter. After an evaluation period, the two tech giants are now finalizing an agreement, those sources told Bloomberg. Apple, the report added, is counting on Google’s assistance to overhaul the technology powering its Siri voice assistant, aiming to roll out new features next year. The report also notes that the Google model’s 1.2 trillion parameters, which are a measure of…

Chime Financial’s results released after the markets closed on Wednesday (Nov. 5) demonstrated double digit growth in the FinTech’s active membership base and increased usage of Chime Card for everyday spending. During the conference call with analysts, CEO Chris Britt said that the company has notched 9.1 million active members in a market of nearly 200 million people earning up to $100,000 per year. We’re at a $2 billion revenue run rate, in an over $400 billion market. There’s a secular shift happening in mainstream America towards digital banking,” he said. The company delivered 29% year over year revenue growth despite lapping…

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) may be rewriting product playbooks, but it hasn’t yet written humans out of them. The newest PYMNTS Intelligence report, “From Spark to Strategy: How Product Leaders Are Using Gen AI to Gain a Competitive Edge,” finds that while nearly every chief product officer (CPO) now uses gen AI, the technology’s greatest influence is not in automation or cost-cutting. It’s in how teams ideate, design and decide. That subtle shift, from replacing labor to redefining creativity, is changing the economics of innovation. The study, based on a March 2025 survey of 60 U.S. product leaders at companies each generating at least…