Author: Art Ryan

Fraud is moving fast, and artificial intelligence is both the weapon and the shield. As scammers harness AI to automate attacks and personalize deception, the defense must match their sophistication. That’s the challenge Visa met with a $1 billion fraud-disruption milestone in September, an achievement marking the company’s efforts to intercept attempted scams before they reach consumers. “The only way to fight bad AI is with even better AI,” Michael Jabbara, senior vice president and head of payment ecosystem risk and control at Visa, told PYMNTS in an interview. Fraudsters “use these tools to really expand their scope so they can target more victims…

Technology and data are remaking even the most essential and overlooked service, including waste hauling. It’s an industry that quietly keeps cities and towns running, moving construction debris, recycling and household refuse every day. Despite its scale, and a trillion dollar market with $32 billion in fund flows, according to CurbWaste CEO Mike Marmo, it remains one of the most fragmented sectors in the U.S. Waste hauling is dominated by family-run haulers who still rely on paper tickets, clipboards and spreadsheets to track routes, trucks and payments, and just getting started is a long journey, as trucks can cost $300,000 each. Marmo knows…

Coinbase has launched a tool that supports agentic commerce by giving artificial intelligence agents access to on-chain financial tools like wallets, on-ramps and stablecoin payments. Dubbed “Payments MCP,” the tool currently works with the large language models Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Cherry Studio, the company said in a Wednesday (Oct. 22) blog post. It will be expanded to other LLMs soon, per the post. The tool operates via the payment protocol x402, according to the post. Payments MCP features wallet creation and sign in with just an email, customization via a user-friendly interface and an integrated x402 Bazaar Explorer that can discover application programming interfaces and…

Netflix is expanding its use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) across its streaming platform, advertising operations and content creation, according to CNBC. The company said it is “all in on leveraging AI,” calling the technology central to how it plans to enhance creativity, personalization and monetization. The announcement came as Netflix reported strong third-quarter results, with revenue rising 17 percent year over year to $11.5 billion and more than 9 million new paid memberships added globally. CEO Ted Sarandos said AI represents “a significant opportunity for us to deliver benefits to our members, creators and business.” Netflix’s investor statement added that AI will help the…

Anthropic is in early discussions with Google on a cloud-computing agreement valued in the high tens of billions of dollars, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 21) Bloomberg report. The deal would give the artificial intelligence company access to Google’s tensor processing units, custom chips designed to accelerate machine learning, deepening a partnership that already includes billions in investments. Talks are preliminary but highlight how access to proprietary compute infrastructure has become a defining advantage in the AI race. Google has invested about $3 billion in Anthropic to date and remains one of its key cloud providers. A larger deal could extend Google’s reach in…

Sesame, a conversational AI startup founded by Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe and technologist Ankit Kumar, has raised $250 million in Series B funding to advance its vision for voice-driven AI wearables. According to TechCrunch, the funding will support the company’s beta rollout and development of lightweight, voice-enabled smart glasses designed for all-day use. Sequoia Capital, which led the round, said Sesame is building a platform for “natural collaboration between humans and machines.” The firm said the new investment reflects a belief that voice, not touchscreens or keyboards, will become the next dominant interface for computing. Sesame’s early demos, featuring two AI…

YouTube has launched its likeness detection system, a new tool that lets creators identify and request removal of AI-generated videos using their face or voice without consent. According to TechCrunch, the feature is being rolled out first to select members of the YouTube Partner Program after an initial pilot phase. Creators can verify their identity in the “Likeness” tab of YouTube Studio using a selfie video and government-issued ID. Once verified, they can review flagged content that mimics their likeness and submit removal requests directly. YouTube said participation is voluntary, and users who opt out will no longer be scanned within 24…

PortX, an AI-powered data integration platform for banks and credit unions, has closed a strategic growth round backed by Allied Solutions and the American Bankers Association (ABA), according to a Monday (Oct. 20) news release. PortX said the new funding will accelerate adoption of its PiXi artificial intelligence-powered platform, which unifies integration, data and payments in one secure environment. The company serves more than 200 banks and credit unions through its Integration-Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) model, which is designed to help financial institutions move faster and operate more efficiently, per the release. “The investment extends PortX’s Series B funding round and underscores strong…

The name of the game for today’s CFOs is increasingly one of resilience through intelligence. Against a backdrop of macro uncertainty, finance teams are finding their footing in the belief that uncertainty can be managed, not feared, and that technology, prudently deployed, can turn volatility into advantage. “At the end of the day, you’re managing the risks, but you’re also managing the vision. It’s about building that scalable, sustainable, healthy business,” Deepak Kumar, CFO at Bushel, told PYMNTS. This shift is partly structural. In many organizations, finance now sits at the center of enterprise planning systems that link sales forecasts, production schedules,…

If cash flow is the lifeblood of a business, accounts receivable (AR) is its oxygen. When it constricts, growth wheezes. For years, companies have tried to keep that oxygen flowing with automation, invoice digitization, payment portals and ERP plug-ins meant to make collections less painful. However, TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear said the next evolution in AR is not about better tools inside the enterprise. It is about letting someone else handle receivables altogether, using networks that apply scale, data and AI to do the work faster, smarter and more predictably. That is the mindset shift Spear described as “zero touch.” In a conversation with Karen…

Supply chain orchestration company Cleo has joined forces with CloneOps.ai, a provider of AI virtual agents. The partnership is designed to bring intelligent voice automation to logistics and transportation companies to improve communication across the supply chain, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 21) news release. “The partnership will focus on a go-to-market strategy that integrates CloneOps.ai’s voice automation technology with supply chain orchestration solutions comprising the CIC platform, Cleo Network, and vertical-market solutions catering to the specific needs of logistics and transportation companies,” the companies said in the release. “Combined, CIC and CloneOps.ai expect to empower joint customers to respond in real-time to unforeseen…

OpenAI is reportedly tapping Wall Street bankers to train its next generation of artificial intelligence models. According to Bloomberg, the company has hired more than 100 former investment bankers from firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to help its systems learn how to build and interpret financial models. The initiative, called Project Mercury, pays contractors about $150 an hour to create Excel models for initial public offerings, restructurings and leveraged buyouts, and to refine the model’s outputs based on their expertise. The project marks a shift for OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, who has been trying to move the…

Artificial intelligence startup Cohere is looking to launch an initial public offering “soon,” according to Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez. During an interview at Bloomberg Tech in London on Tuesday (Oct. 21), Gomez said that he thinks investors “would be excited to have a pure play AI investment opportunity as opposed to investing by proxy through hyperscalers.” A Cohere IPO would be one of the first listings from an AI model maker, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Gomez also said at the event, per the report, that he expects Cohere to turn a profit before 2029. Cohere focuses on customizable AI software for businesses, with an emphasis on technology that…

Every major shift in technology reshapes the foundations of trust. The rise of autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) systems is doing so at unprecedented scale, transferring decision-making from people to algorithms. Trust has become a form of infrastructure in the AI economy, determining how confidently markets and institutions allow these systems to operate. Trust Gap Slows Deployment A global study by KPMG and Melbourne Business School found that 66% of people use AI weekly and 83% believe it provides benefits, but only 46% say they trust it. The Stanford HAI AI Index 2025 showed a similar sentiment. While most people agree AI will transform how society functions, fewer than…

For decades, the playbook for operational excellence was written in the language of efficiency. Cost per unit, just-in-time delivery and minimal inventory were the markers of a well-run supply chain. The world’s most admired companies built their empires on the ability to extract waste and friction from production and logistics networks. But the assumptions that underpinned this model, such as stable geopolitics, predictable trade rules and reliable shipping lanes, are collapsed under the weight of a more volatile era. “The current trade landscape that we see today is marked by widespread volatility, complete unpredictability,” Dean Bain, SVP supply chain at Coupa, told…

Daily trading activity on Wall Street has reached unprecedented levels, with the New York Stock Exchange now processing about 1.2 trillion order messages each day, according to exchange President Lynn Martin. That is nearly three times the volume seen during a volatile trading day four years ago. Each message represents a single instruction to buy, sell, cancel or modify an order. Martin said the sharp rise reflects how artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic systems are redefining the pace and structure of U.S. financial markets. “When I first took this job four years ago, COVID was still rearing its head, and a volatile day…

Finster AI has raised $15 million in combined Series A and seed funding to support the growth of its artificial intelligence-native research and task automation platform for investment banks and asset managers. The platform helps these financial professionals unlock insights, the company said in a Monday (Oct. 20) press release. Finster AI will use the funding to open a New York office, expand its London headquarters and form data and technology partnerships, according to the release. The company’s platform is designed to meet the needs financial institution teams have for strict controls and robust governance around the handling of confidential information and…

Compliance programs are only as strong as their weakest pillars. And for CFOs and finance departments, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as one of the biggest opportunities, and most dangerous risks, of the 21st century. Enterprise AI targeted at corporate back-office workflows doesn’t just learn from data; it redefines how decisions are made. That means accountability structures built for human oversight are being stress-tested in ways compliance leaders are still struggling to measure. The challenge isn’t merely technical. It’s structural. The same algorithms that can enhance efficiency or accuracy can also introduce opaque dependencies, unpredictable biases, and noncompliant cross-jurisdictional data flows. Adopting AI doesn’t…

UAE, Dubai – October 16, 2025: ZainTECH, the integrated digital solutions provider of Zain Group, today announced a strategic partnership with DataPatrol to expand and strengthen its presence in the Bahrain market, focusing on advanced data security, and insider threats management. The announcement, made during GITEX Global 2025, establishes a joint operational and commercial framework between ZainTECH and DataPatrol to deliver end-to-end ICT and cybersecurity solutions across Bahrain, Jordan, and Iraq. This partnership brings together ZainTECH’s regional scale, technical expertise, and multi-vendor alliances, with DataPatrol’s local market expertise in information security and on-ground delivery capabilities to serve enterprise, financial, and…

The week’s funding rounds highlight startups using AI to solve problems in science, healthcare, agriculture and enterprise operations. The technology is beginning to deliver measurable outcomes for human life. AI Brings Automation to Scientific Discovery Lila Sciences raised $115 million in an extension of its Series A, backed by Nvidia Capital. The Boston-based company is developing “AI Science Factories,” automated laboratories that use robotics, sensors, and generative models to design and run experiments continuously. Instead of relying on publicly available data, Lila’s systems produce their own experimental results. They feed them back into machine-learning models that improve. The funding will support…