Visa has opened a $100 million venture fund for supporting generative AI developers
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The global card giant Visa seemingly developed an interest in generative AI technologies, as it just revealed a $100 million venture fund aimed at supporting companies trying to harness these technologies.
The company noted that it plans to invest in companies that are trying to develop generative AI technologies and applications for commerce and payments. The initiative is set to be led by Visa’s global corporate investment arm, Visa Ventures.
Generative AI could be the most transformative technology of this time
David Rolf, who leads Visa Ventures, said that generative AI has great potential and could be “one of the most transformative technologies of our time.” As a result, he noted that Visa Ventures is excited to expand its focus and invest in some of the most innovative and disruptive startups, building across generative AI technology.
The potential use cases of generative AI in commerce and payments are an interesting matter for everyone involved. Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, Jack Forestell, said that the initiative is not only about earnings yield and new ways to make money but also about understanding the transformative potential that generative AI carries.
He noted that much of this technology has been focused on content creation and conducting various tasks until now. However, Visa believes that this technology has much greater potential and that it might soon reshape the way people live and work.
Visa believes that the payments industry will come to rely heavily on generative AI
Since generative AI has such great potential, it is reasonable to assume that commerce will also change around it. However, for the time being, Visa doesn’t have a clear understanding of how these changes might affect commerce and the specifics of the changes, hence its interest in generative AI startups that seek to create solutions impacting commerce and payments.
Visa also noted that it has been a pioneer of AI use in payments since 1993, which is why it considers this initiative to be an extension of its leadership in using AI to drive innovation in payments, create value for clients and partners, and enable and empower commerce on a global level.
In the past, the company has been using AI technologies to maximize value and security across its ecosystem. Now, however, it seeks to harness the power of generative AI to create and offer advanced payment solutions that could transform the financial industry.
In what way — it currently remains unknown, as even those within the company still do not know where this technology may lead.
