How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Payments

Both consumer and business payments have been moving full steam ahead, catapulted by innovations like big data, open banking, and other advancements in technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a big role in the payments evolution thus far and will continue to be a main player moving forward. IDC projects that financial services companies will spend $11 billion on artificial intelligence next year. While financial services and payments certainly stand to benefit from the AI revolution, all industries will experience benefits from these developments. Accenture reports that AI can boost rates of profitability by 38% on average by 2035 and could lead to an economic boost of $14 trillion among 16 industries across 12 economies by that time, too 03 www.opusconsulting.com In order to understand exactly how AI has the power to change payments, it is important to clarify what is meant by AI. More specifically, it’s essentially to examine the difference between machine learning and AI, which can often be confused with one another. The former is a subset of AI, where computer algorithms have the ability to analyze and compare large data sets, and then identify patterns and anomalies. AI is the broader umbrella under which machine learning is one branch. It is the theory and development of computer systems in a way that enables them to complete tasks that would normally require human intelligence. The applications of AI are seemingly endless and the benefits within the payments ecosystem could be vast.