Visa launches artificial intelligence advisory service

Visa  is offering its customers artificial intelligence (AI) advisory services following the launch of an operation dedicated to the technology.

As part of Visa Consulting and Analytics, the payments giant’s AI Advisory Practice will harness the skills and experience of 1000 experts across the world to provide customers with help to use AI to grow their business. These consultants, data scientists and product specialist will offer “actionable insights and recommendations,” according to Visa.  

Visa said it has invested more than $3bn in AI and data infrastructure in the last 10 years to make the movement of money more secure, prevent fraud and adopt smart payment methods.

Carl Rutstein, global head of advisory services at Visa, said: "[We don’t] just use AI to help improve payment experiences - our advisory business is also harnessing it to empower our clients to grow and redefine how they serve their own customers through acquisition, engagement, retention, and risk management.”

The advisory service will support customers from initial discovery and planning of AI opportunities to its implementation.

Last month Visa said wants to be at the forefront of the next phase of generative AI innovation through investment in tech startups that will apply the technology to payments and commerce. To this end, it launched a generative AI initiative that will see up to $100m invested in such startups.

Demand for AI services in the finance sector is expected to explode in the coming years. According to recent research from IBM’s Institute for Business Value, over 40% of banking and financial markets leaders expect generative AI, deep learning and machine learning to help deliver improved financial results over the next three years.

Talent, security and customer experience were the main areas in which financial services leaders indicated interest in applying generative AI. Over half (54%) said applying it to improve customer care was one of their highest technology priorities, and 75% said the competitive advantage will go to the institutions that have the most advanced use.

A study from Accenture of nearly 5,000 senior executives across the globe earlier this year, When atoms meet bits: The foundations of our new reality, revealed that 98% of senior executives believe AI will spark significant creativity and innovation, and 95% said it will usher in a new era of enterprise intelligence.

Accenture has also recently announced a specialist AI unit to support customers, with its Brussels-based AI Lab created to develop services focused on healthcare, public sector and NATO across Europe. This is part of a $3bn AI investment announced by Accenture in June.

The AI lab and innovation studio will test and evaluate potential AI and generative AI-based services for the European public sector, including the UK.

The lab is a dedicated space in an existing Accenture office in Belgium’s capital. It has a core team of 25 people based on site, with around 90 more across Europe offering their expertise in technologies such as AI, computer vision, natural language processing, responsible AI and statistics modelling.