Visa wants to give artificial intelligence 'agents' your credit card
Artificial intelligence 'agents' are supposed to be more than chatbots. The tech industry has spent months pitching AI personal assistants that know what you want and can do real work on your behalf.
So far, they're not doing much.
Visa hopes to change that by giving them your credit card. Set a budget and some preferences and these AI agents — successors to ChatGPT and its chatbot peers — could find and buy you a sweater, weekly groceries or an airplane ticket.
'We think this could be really important,' said Jack Forestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer, in an interview. 'Transformational, on the order of magnitude of the advent of e-commerce itself.'
Visa announced Wednesday it is partnering with a group of leading AI chatbot developers — among them U.S. companies Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI and Perplexity, and France's Mistral — to connect their AI systems to Visa's payments network. Visa is also working with IBM, online payment company Stripe and phone-maker Samsung on the initiative. Pilot projects begin Wednesday, ahead of more widespread usage expected next year.
The San Francisco payment processing company is betting that what seems futuristic now could become a convenient alternative to our most mundane shopping tasks in the near future. It has spent the past six months working with AI developers to address technical obstacles that must be overcome before the average consumer is going to use it.
For emerging AI companies, Visa's backing could also boost their chances of competing with tech giants Amazon and Google, which dominate digital commerce and are developing their own AI agents.
The tech industry is already full of demonstrations of the capabilities of what it calls agentic AI, though few are yet found in the real world. Most are still refashioned versions of large language models — the generative AI technology behind chatbots that can write emails, summarize documents or help people code. Trained on huge troves of data, they can scour the internet and bring back recommendations for things to buy, but they have a harder time going beyond that.
'The early incarnations of agent-based commerce are starting to do a really good job on the shopping and discovery dimension of the problem, but they are having tremendous trouble on payments,' Forestell said. 'You get to this point where the agents literally just turn it back around and say, 'OK, you go buy it.'
Visa sees itself as having a key role in giving AI agents easier and trusted access to the cash they need to make purchases.
'The payments problem is not something the AI platforms can solve by themselves," Forestell said. 'That's why we started working with them.'
The new AI initiative comes nearly a year after Visa revealed major changes to how credit and debit cards will operate in the U.S., making physical cards and their 16-digit numbers increasingly irrelevant.
Many consumers are already getting used to digital payment systems such as Apply Pay that turn their phones into a credit card. A similar process of vetting someone's digital credentials would authorize AI agents to work on a customer's behalf, in a way Forestell says must assure buyers, banks and merchants that the transactions are legitimate and that Visa will handle disputes.
Forestell said that doesn't mean AI agents will take over the entire shopping experience, but it might be useful for errands that either bore some people — like groceries, home improvement items or even Christmas lists — or are too complicated, like travel bookings. In those situations, some people might want an agent that 'just powers through it and automatically goes and does stuff for us,' Forestell said.
Other shopping experiences, such as for luxury goods, are a form of entertainment and many customers still want to immerse themselves in the choices and comparisons, Forestell said. In that case, he envisions AI agents still offering assistance but staying in the background.
And what about credit card debt? The credit card balances of American consumers hit $1.21 trillion at the end of last year, according to the Federal Reserve of New York.
Forestell says consumers will give their AI agents clear spending limits and conditions that should give them confidence that the human is still in control. At first, the AI agents are likely to come back to buyers to make sure they are OK with a specific airplane ticket. Over time, those agents might get more autonomy to 'go spend up to $1,500 on any airline to get me from A to B," he said.
Part of what is attracting some AI developers to the Visa partnership is that, with a customer's consent, an AI agent can also tap into a lot of data about past credit card purchases.
'Visa has the ability for a user to consent to share streams of their transaction history with us,' said Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer. 'When we generate a recommendation -- say you're asking, 'What are the best laptops?' — we would know what are other transactions you've made and the revealed preferences from that.'
Perplexity's chatbot can already book hotels and make other purchases, but it's still in the early stages of AI commerce, Shevelenko says. The San Francisco startup has also, along with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a federal court it would consider buying Google's internet browser, Chrome, if the U.S. forces a breakup of the tech giant in a pending antitrust case.
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The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
Hey AI! Can ChatGPT help you to manage your money?
Artificial intelligence seems to have touched every part of our lives. But can it help us manage our money? We put some common personal finance questions to the free version of ChatGPT, one of the most well-known AI chatbots, and asked for its help. Then we gave the answers to some – human – experts and asked them what they thought. We asked: I am 35 years old and want to ensure I have a comfortable retirement. I earn about £35,000 a year and have a workplace pension, in which I have saved £20,000. My employer contributes 4% of salary. I would like to retire at 60 and want to ensure I have enough in my pension pot to not worry about money later in life. Do I need to save more? ChatGPT said*: A comfortable single-person retirement requires roughly £43,000 a year of spending (in today's money) while a moderate lifestyle might need £31,000 a year. Covering £43,000 a year over a 20- to 30-year retirement implies a very large pension pot of about £793,000 in addition to the state pension. A moderate £31,000 a year needs £478,000 in savings. Your state pension will kick in at 67 and is about £12,000 a year, much less than the £43,000 needed for comfort and it does not arrive until seven years after you retire. This 'pre-state pension gap' could well exceed £150,000. You must plan to fund all expenses for seven years on your own savings. Even optimistic growth leaves you well below the £500,000 to £800,000 needed. You'll need to save more – much higher than 9%. Vanguard [an investment adviser] suggests saving 12% to 15% of your pay a year (including employer contributions). Legal & General offers a rule-of-thumb savings percentage of half your age: at 35, that means 17.5% of your salary. Since your employer already gives 4%, you might target 11%. Don't forget UK tax relief: your 20% basic-rate relief effectively makes every £80 you save cost you only £60 net. Consider topping up with a lump sum or contributing to a stocks and shares Isa. Read ChatGPT's full answer here Steve Webb, a partner at the pension consultants LCP, says: Using the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) standard for a 'comfortable' and moderate income seems a reasonable place to start. For someone aged 35 today, the state pension age by law will be 68 (and could be higher by the time they get there) so the reference to 67 in the reply is incorrect. The PLSA says you need £43,000 a year after tax, so that implies a pre-tax income of very roughly £50,000; you get £12,000 a year of this from state pension age, but for the first eight years of retirement (before the state pension kicks in) you would need this to come from your pension pot. This means you will need £635,000 on current calculations. The figure of £793,000, therefore, looks over the odds, though there may be an assumption (not made explicit) that a quarter is always taken in tax-free cash. The person using AI needs to understand what assumption has been made around tax-free cash to clarify what is going on. It is good the AI explains that in the first years of retirement you are relying solely on your private pension pot, a kind of basic 'cashflow modelling' many advisers would do as standard. The rules of thumb are a decent starting point, although the one about saving at a percentage which is half your age is for people who only start saving at that age. One omission is that there is no reference to the possibility of an additional employer match. Some firms will pay more if you pay more, and that would make additional workplace saving much more attractive than the suggested alternative of an Isa. Another omission is that if you buy an annuity at 60, you may want to think about things such as inflation protection, and these would increase the size of pot you needed to target. I don't think it's a bad reply aside from the error on state pension age. But you would want to go deeper in terms of understanding the assumptions made. We asked: We have 20 years left on our mortgage and our current rate is due to run out in a few months. The loan to value is about 50%. What are the best rates on the market? Should we go for a two-year or five-year fix? Or should we stay put and hope that that rates come down? ChatGPT said: The very cheapest two‑year fixes are about 3.7% to 3.8% and five‑year fixes are about 3.8% to 3.9% for borrowers with large deposits. With 50% equity you should qualify for the lowest-rate tier. For example, Lloyds Bank has a two‑year fix at 3.72%. These often have arrangement fees (typically £999) so factor them into any calculation. For five‑year fixes, Lloyds offers 3.78%. If you did nothing, your mortgage would revert to the lender's standard variable rate, which are typically much higher – about 7-8%. An SVR can jump if rates rise, and lenders are not required to pass on cuts in full. If you expect further rate cuts, a two‑year deal lets you refinance again sooner at (hopefully) lower rates. The downside is more frequent remortgaging: after two years, you'll need another deal. Five-year deals are likely to be a few tenths higher but give peace of mind for longer and protect you if market rates jump or stay elevated. If stability of repayments is your priority, a five‑year fix is often recommended. Most analysts expect further modest cuts – economists at Barclays predicted the bank rate could fall to 3.5% by early 2026. That could push mortgage offers down further, but likely not to the ultra-low levels seen pre-2020. Many experts lean toward taking a fixed rate now (especially to avoid the very high SVR) and revisiting options after a year or two. Read ChatGPT's full answer here David Hollingworth of the broker L&C Mortgages says: This response is not even close to the level of advice that a qualified adviser would provide. What it does provide is a quick spin around some of the things that have been going on in the market, along with a general overview of elements the borrower may want to think about. The AI response is a bit of a mishmash and veers from quite specific information, such as specifying the Lloyds rate, to more general observations. Aside from the fact that this deal is now defunct, it also required the borrower to be a current account customer. Criteria will be as much a factor for many borrowers as the deal itself. It does highlight that there's an arrangement fee to factor in, but borrowers need to understand there are options that can reduce or remove those costs, which could work much better for someone with a smaller mortgage. It feels a bit mixed about what may or may not happen with rates – the bottom line is that none of us know and, as far as I know, that includes AI. Because it was asked about two- and five-year rates, it fails to consider whether another option could fit better. An adviser would take a borrower through that, which could open up something like a three-year deal, fixing for 10-plus years and the existence and pros and cons of variable rate deals, too. The response may give some food for thought to borrowers and help them consider the questions they want to cover with a human adviser. Most borrowers will have had a browse online of 'best buy' deals and coverage of what's happening in the market before seeking individual advice. ChatGPT may offer another way to drag a very general summary together quickly as part of that research. We asked: I have two children (12 and 15), both of whom are in secondary school. Both want to go to university when they finish school. What is the best way for me to start saving and how much will I need to put together? They will be going to university in the UK. Can they get student loans? How much will accommodation cost us? ChatGPT started with details of the government loans for tuition and living costs and when they need to be repaid. It says these children would qualify for the minimum maintenance loan of between £3,907 and £6,853 depending on where they work and study. It then said: It's wise to start saving now with dedicated education savings. Junior Isas allow up to £9,000 a year for each child in tax-free savings or investments. Any growth is tax-free, and funds are released when the child turns 18. Even small regular deposits (eg £50-£100/month) into a Jisa, or a high-interest children's savings account, can add up. Other options include premium bonds, a stocks and shares Isa (higher risk, higher potential return), or simply a regular savings account in the parents' name. Consider investments for long-term growth: index funds or diversified portfolios can beat savings rates, though with risk of loss. It added that you should encourage children to save and to check for bursaries and scholarships. Read ChatGPT's full answer here Charlene Young, a senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, says: It did a decent job of spelling out the facts of how much uni could cost, and the probable level of loan that could be applied for. It falls short on explaining the differences that would help someone make the right decision for their circumstances. A discussion with a real person would involve questions asking for extra information to give a more comprehensive answer. When saving or investing for children, we often talk about putting on your own oxygen mask first, such as checking you have a cash buffer or emergency fund for those unexpected costs. I'd want to double check that you don't have any unsecured, high-interest borrowing outstanding – the AI answer doesn't really explain that, starting from an assumption your own finances are in good shape. A pot such as a junior Isa makes sense for a specific goal such as university costs, but that money is locked away until the child turns 18 – and after that, it switches to an account in their own name that they can spend as they wish. It was good to see the AI suggest involving the child in all financial discussions to help them become a bit self-sufficient and mitigate some of those risks, but the answer did not spell out the important access at age 18 point. We know that investing gives the best chance of growing money over the long term – above cash and rises in the cost of living. But the short investment window between now and the time the eldest child would go to university was not mentioned at all as a risk. A specific fund recommendation from AI would be a bit of a red flag, but it's helpful to give people an idea of what could be considered or where to find more information. For example, what is an index fund, or a diversified portfolio and what are the likely costs. Here, a real adviser could make a formal recommendation, or an expert could point out how to research different types of funds. We asked: I have just bought my first home and am expecting a child with my partner. What types of insurance do we need and how much should we spend? We travel on holidays every year and both work full time. ChatGPT gave a list of insurances and explained what each does, including what policies typically provide and exclude. For example, it said 'life insurance pays a tax-free lump sum or regular payout if a policyholder dies during the term… A Which? comparison found a 30-year-old could insure £300,000 (25-year term) for about £113 per year.' It said the key policies to get in this case were life insurance, income protection, critical illness cover, buildings insurance, contents insurance, and travel insurance. It said: 'To save on premiums, you can bundle cover as insurers often discount multi-policy customers. A joint life policy (pays on first death) is cheaper than two single life policies, but note it ends on first claim. Sometimes buying separate dual life (first-death) and second-death life insurance can be optimal. Rates vary widely so get multiple quotes.' Read ChatGPT's full answer here Graeme Trudgill, chief executive of the British Insurance Brokers' Association says the response is 'very generic' and does not take into account the complexities of insurance. Brokers, he says, are able to negotiate with providers on behalf of the consumer and know what the best policies are on the market. Kathryn Knowles from brokers Cura Insurance says some of the advice on critical illness cover was confused and did not properly distinguish it from income protection, which advisors have to do. And Garry Nelson from AllClear Travel Insurance says the AI's response on travel insurance is 'very simplistic' and fails to help people in what they need, be it a single trip or annual policy. 'This is as far as ChatGPT can go in my opinion for travel insurance enquiries – ie offering a general description as it is not regulated to offer anything more detailed or complex,' he says. The responses from ChatGPT were largely limited to general summaries about the various topics – and sometimes even contained inaccuracies. They may be a useful introduction and guide, but lack the level of detail needed to make serious decisions that could cost thousands of pounds. It's a good place to start if you want an idea of some of the things you need to think about before making decisions – but if you want advice, you should be better off with a human. * The responses from ChatGPT have been edited for this article What to ask and how You will get better detail in an answer if you provide a lot of information, such as your age, your salary and what debts you have, rather than just asking a general question. Check your privacy settings to ensure you are comfortable with how ChatGPT processes your data. You may well want to ensure your chats are not being used for training. Don't rely on the AI to tell you about the most up-to-date products. Instead do your own research or go to an adviser. The AI is better placed to give plans or broad strategies. Use it as a jumping-off tool, not for a final plan. While you might get some good general details, don't make any decisions without doing your own research as well or consulting an expert. If you don't understand a term, ask the AI to break it down for you – for example, you might want to know what the difference is between types of loan available when you go to university. On the free version of ChatGPT, click 'Run Deep Research' in the tools section of the query box to get a more extensive report on your query, as we did in collating this article. There are five opportunities to use it in the free version, and you can pay for more.
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Inside the glamorous life of Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe… who publicly mocks her dad's tech skills
Phoebe Gates is just like any other college grad - apart from the fact her dad is a tech billionaire, she founded an app with her best friend, and she regularly attends star-studded events wearing designer outfits. The 22-year-old Stanford University grad has lived a seemingly charmed life - growing up with unimaginable wealth as the daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda. The family grew up in a $131 million mansion in Medina, Washington, that came complete with seven bathrooms, 24 bathrooms, and six kitchens, as well as its own man-made beach, at-home movie theater, gym, and trampoline room. The property, worth an estimated $131 million, is nicknamed 'Xanadu 2.0,' a reference to the fictional estate in the movie 'Citizen Kane.' Her parents' wealth has provided a lavish lifestyle - complete with the finest education - and while older siblings Jennifer, 30, and Ryan, 25, have kept their lives more private, Phoebe hasn't shied away from the spotlight. Her Instagram regularly shows her attending glamorous events, including summits, talks and exclusive fashion events, often dressed by designer labels and dripping in expensive jewelry. But despite her Instagram-influencer persona, Phoebe - who previously interned with British Vogue - has been determined to forge her own path. 'Okay, I'm my parents' daughter, that gives me immense privilege, but it's not what I'm defined by,' she previously told WWD. The budding entrepreneur - along with former Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni - launched her own e-commerce startup app called Phia earlier in the year. The platform offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across more than 40,000 selling sites. Despite her father's wealth, Phoebe raised the capital independently - first getting $100,000 from Soma Capital, then $250,000 from the Stanford social entrepreneurship grant, and finally $500,000 in angel investments, bringing the total to $850,000. Phoebe is the third child of Bill and Melinda Gates, who divorced after 27 years of marriage in 2001. Although her billionaire Microsoft co-founder-father provided her with a very comfortable childhood, she has admitted it has done more harm than good at times. Last year, Phoebe appeared on Netflix's new docuseries What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates. In the series, Bill asked his daughter if she had ever come across conspiracy theories about him - including that the COVID pandemic was a ploy to allow Bill Gates to put microchips in vaccines that would allow him to track people. 'All the time,' Phoebe responded. 'I've even had friends cut me off because of these vaccine rumors,' she said. While Bill is one of the richest people on the planet, ranked seventh in the world by Forbes, Phoebe keeps a close relationship with him. She often speaks about their bond and, despite her father's impressive background, she recently teased him about his lack of tech awareness in an Instagram post. 'Happy birthday, Dad! @thisisbillgates - my favorite person who now texts me to let me know he's going to send me an email,' she jokingly captioned a picture of herself with her dad. Bill has spoken previously about what will happen to his billions when he dies. In 2024, while speaking with fans on a Reddit Ask Me Anything, the Microsoft founder said that he thinks leaving his vast fortune to his three children would be a mistake. Instead, he plans to leave the majority to charity, including his own, The Gates Foundation. The tech mogul is shuttering the Gates Foundation by December 31, 2045, effectively ending a lifelong project to give away his multi-billion fortune. He announced earlier in the year that he plans to distribute 'virtually all' of his wealth, approximately $200 billion, within the next 20 years. The billionaire announced he will give away 99 percent of his immense fortune, leaving one percent for himself and his children. The Gates Foundation, which Gates founded in 2000 along with his ex-wife who left the organization after their divorce, pours billions of dollars every year into health, foreign aid and other public assistance programs. Gates will hold onto just one percent of his wealth - which still equals out to an estimated $1.62 billion. As for her personal life, Phoebe is currently dating Arthur Donald, the grandson of Paul McCartney, as per Nylon.
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Reuters
Meta's $14.8 billion Scale AI deal latest test of AI partnerships
June 13 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta's (META.O), opens new tab $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI and hiring of the data-labeling startup's CEO will test how the Trump administration views so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny. The deal, announced on Thursday, was Meta's second-largest . It gives the owner of Facebook a 49% nonvoting stake in Scale AI, which uses gig workers to manually label data and includes among its customers Meta competitors Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Unlike an acquisition or a transaction that would give Meta a controlling stake, the deal does not require a review by U.S. antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. The deal appeared to be structured to avoid potential pitfalls, such as cutting off competitors' access to Scale's services or giving Meta an inside view into rivals' operations - though Reuters exclusively reported on Friday that Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google has decided to sever ties with Scale in light of Meta's stake, and other customers are looking at taking a step back. In a statement, a Scale AI spokesperson said its business, which spans work with major companies and governments, remains strong, as it is committed to protecting customer data. The company declined to comment on specifics with Google. Alexandr Wang, Scale's 28-year-old CEO who is coming to Meta as part of the deal, will remain on Scale's board but will have appropriate restrictions placed around his access to information, two sources familiar with the move confirmed. Large tech companies likely perceive the regulatory environment for AI partnerships as easier to navigate under President Donald Trump than under former President Joe Biden, said William Kovacic, director of the competition law center at George Washington University. Trump's antitrust enforcers have said they do not want to regulate how AI develops, but have also displayed a suspicion of large tech platforms, he added. "That would lead me to think they will keep looking carefully at what the firms do. It does not necessarily dictate that they will intervene in a way that would discourage the relationships," Kovacic said. Federal Trade Commission probes into past "aquihire" deals appear to be at a standstill. Under the Biden administration, the FTC opened inquiries into Amazon's (AMZN.O), opens new tab deal to hire top executives and researchers from AI startup Adept, and Microsoft's $650 million deal with Inflection AI. The latter allowed Microsoft to use Inflection's models and hire most of the startup's staff, including its co-founders. Amazon's deal closed without further action from the regulator, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. And, more than a year after its initial inquiry, the FTC has so far taken no enforcement action against Microsoft over Inflection, though a larger probe over practices at the software giant is ongoing. A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment on Friday. David Olson, a professor who teaches antitrust law at Boston College Law School, said it was smart of Meta to take a minority nonvoting stake. "I think that does give them a lot of protection if someone comes after them," he said, adding that it was still possible that the FTC would want to review the agreement. The Meta deal has its skeptics. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who is probing, said Meta's investment should be scrutinized. 'Meta can call this deal whatever it wants - but if it violates federal law because it unlawfully squashes competition or makes it easier for Meta to illegally dominate, antitrust enforcers should investigate and block it," she said in a statement on Friday. While Meta faces its own monopoly lawsuit by the FTC, it remains to be seen whether the agency will have any questions about its Scale investment. The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division, led by former JD Vance adviser Gail Slater, recently started looking into whether Google's partnership with chatbot creator was designed to evade antitrust review, Bloomberg News reported. The DOJ is separately seeking to make Google give it advance notice of new AI investments as part of a proposal to curb the company's dominance in online search.
