Author: Art Ryan

Retailers and suppliers are finding that the key to unlocking millions in savings lies in how they manage working capital. According to PYMNTS Intelligence commissioned by Visa, 4 in 5 CFOs and treasurers studied for the 2025/2026 Working Capital Index have unlocked about $19 million in average savings thanks to the efficient use of external working capital solutions. For JOOR CFO Rich Rein, that figure reflects how embedded finance is reshaping relationships between brands and retailers. “The retail industry is really a classic example of how important working capital and working capital management is,” Rein told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster. “It’s a textbook case.” Cash Flow: Retail Balancing Act Payments between buyers and suppliers in retail are…

AI has brought a shift in the way finance leaders operate, FIS EVP, Group President, Office of the CFO JP James writes in a new PYMNTS eBook, “Headlines That Will Shape the Close of 2025.” As 2025 draws to a close, artificial intelligence stands out as a primary catalyst redefining the function and influence of the office of the CFO. No longer confined to the realm of automation or basic analytics, AI has evolved into a dynamic engine powering strategic decision-making, risk management and financial innovation across global organizations. The final quarter of the year is set to highlight how AI’s integration is not…

California has passed a series of artificial intelligence and social-media bills establishing the nation’s most extensive state-level safeguards for minors and requiring AI developers to disclose their training data. Governor Gavin Newsom this month signed five bills addressing child online safety and AI accountability, introducing new standards for chatbot oversight, age verification and content liability. The laws mark the most comprehensive attempt yet by a U.S. state to regulate how generative AI and social platforms interact with users. California Sets New Rules for AI and Social Platforms According to California’s official announcement, the legislation creates new guardrails for technology companies, including requirements for chatbot disclosures,…

BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI), a leading provider of mission-ready AI for national security, today announced the deployment of its veriScan™ biometric identity platformto support theU.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP) program at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). “Border security starts with trusted identity,” said Kevin McAleenan, Chief Executive Officer, BigBear.ai.Share The EPP system has enabled highly secure entry for U.S. citizensreturning home across multiple ports of entry. Now in collaboration with the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), this milestone implementation marks a major advancement in securing and accelerating international arrivals for those U.S. citizens at ORD. “Border security starts with…

DURHAM, N.C. & HARRISBURG, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SinglepointAI, the intelligent data automation layer designed to simplify and connect the retirement plan ecosystem, and PensionPro, a leader in workflow management software for Third-Party Administrators (TPAs), today announced that SinglepointAI is now an integration partner with PensionPro. Validated in production, the integration powers PensionPro’s new automated onboarding feature—eliminating one of the most painful bottlenecks in retirement plan administration. Built for retirement pros, by retirement pros. Streamlined 401(k) onboarding through PensionPro, powered by SinglepointAI’s intelligent data automation layer.Share Onboarding plans swiftly and efficiently has long been a challenge for TPAs. Manual, repetitive data entry, missing…

New research from Anthropic and academic collaborators, finds that only a few hundred malicious data points can introduce hidden vulnerabilities into large language models (LLMs). The study examined models from 600 million to 13 billion parameters. Parameters being the internal numerical weights a model tunes to predict and generate text. The result: larger models did not require proportionally more poisoned data to be compromised. According to Anthropic’s analysis, the attack succeeded when roughly 250 manipulated documents were added to an otherwise clean dataset. These samples created a “backdoor,” meaning the model learned an unintended behavior linked to a secret trigger. For example,…

Retail is no longer a tale of shelves and sales. It’s a story of systems. The industry has evolved from an art of merchandising into a science of experience design and data orchestration. This evolution is being driven not only by changing customer expectations, but by technology’s ability to re-architect both what the customer sees (the “front end”) and what happens behind the scenes (the “back end”). Amazon, for example, on Wednesday (Oct. 22) announced it is equipping its delivery drivers with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses to accelerate last-mile logistics, part of a broader operational overhaul that also includes enhanced delivery…

Alibaba has unveiled a new artificial intelligence chatbot for consumers and announced the pricing and launch date of its new AI glasses. The company’s consumer-facing AI application, Quark, announced the Quark AI Chat Assistant, saying it enables users to access real-time information and services via text or voice, according to a Thursday (Oct. 23) press release. Integrated into the Quark app and powered by Alibaba’s latest Qwen3 models, the chatbot provides a combination of search and conversation, as well as capabilities around deep search, photo-based problem solving, AI writing and photo editing, according to the release. It will also “further integrate various MCP (Model Context…

These days, working for America’s AI giants means putting in 80 to 100-hour weeks. That’s according to a report late Wednesday (Oct. 22) by The Wall Street Journal, which says that many researchers at Silicon Valley artificial intelligence (AI) labs compare the situation to being at war. “We’re basically trying to speedrun 20 years of scientific progress in two years,” said Josh Batson, a research scientist at Anthropic. Major advances in AI systems are happening “every few months,” he said. “It’s the most interesting scientific question in the world right now.” According to the report, executives and researchers at tech companies like Anthropic, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI have said…

The plumbing of B2B finance isn’t exactly cutting edge. In fact, the only “cutting edge” many of the traditional pipes that facilitate enterprise payments can boast is their rusty bits. But the rise of autonomous agents, or artificial intelligence (AI) systems empowered to decide, initiate, and complete transactions, is set to polish up this legacy reality. “AI is going to have an impact widely across what I would call the procure-to-pay process,” Nabil Manji, SVP head of FinTech Growth & Financial Partnerships at Worldpay, told PYMNTS during a discussion for the B2B PYMNTS 2025 event, “B2B.AI: The Architecture of Intelligent Money Movement.” “If you think about reconciliation, it’s about as repetitive and…

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…