Navigating Opportunity and Risk in Fuel and Payments: By Oliver Tearle
GenAI is already making waves in the fuel industry, particularly in optimising processes. So far, its capabilities include generating draft documents, presentations, and computer code, as well as summarising large documents and emails. While these applications are just the beginning, we anticipate even greater efficiency as the technology matures and integrates more deeply.
This is where Agentic AI comes in, taking GenAI to the next level by enabling intelligent process automation. Instead of just generating content, Agentic AI can understand a problem and determine the best course of action. This capability is perfect for a wide range of back-office operational tasks. For instance, imagine a fraud analyst investigating a suspicious transaction. An Agentic AI could analyse various data points, such as transaction history, customer profiles, and location data, and then autonomously decide whether to flag the transaction for human review, block it, or request further verification from the customer – all based on its assessment of the risk.
GenAI's spread isn't limited to legitimate business uses. Criminals are also harnessing its power to ramp up fraudulent activities. They now use GenAI to create highly realistic fake fuel card applications, often getting the necessary stolen data from illicit online marketplaces. The resulting fraudulent cards can cause substantial financial damage when these counterfeit applications are approved. What's more, these fraudsters are experts in fuel card fraud, enabling them to exploit the cards for maximum value over extended periods, often without immediate detection, which significantly escalates the overall problem.
In response to this growing threat, fraud detection tools increasingly incorporate GenAI capabilities to strengthen their defences. New GenAI-driven features allow for advanced fraud screening and detection, helping identify suspicious activities earlier. GenAI is particularly good at processing sequential data and spotting subtle differences between legitimate and fraudulent patterns, often leading to much earlier identification of fraudulent transactions than previous analytical methods. Additionally, the development of Agentic AI has the potential to change the way we build fraud systems, continuously adapting to new fraud trends, requiring minimal human intervention or feedback, such as insights from fraud management teams during case reviews. This ability to learn and adapt is crucial in an environment where fraud tactics constantly evolve.
While sophisticated technological safeguards are critical for reducing cyber threats, human elements often remain vulnerable. Fraudsters are aware of that and have capitalised on it using GenAI to create very convincing phishing emails. These communications are designed to trick staff into clicking malicious links, opening harmful files, or even directly transferring funds. Soon, GenAI-based email scanners are expected to mitigate this threat. These systems will analyse email content and, by cross-referencing it with past communications from the supposed sender, determine how likely the message is to be authentic. For instance, if there's an increase in phishing attempts impersonating senior leadership, an email scanner could compare the current message against all previous emails from that individual, providing a probability score regarding its legitimacy.
Beyond the immediate concerns of fraud, the gradual shift towards electric vehicles is causing a fundamental change in how forecourts operate. As internal combustion engine vehicles become less common, forecourts adapt to the longer dwell times associated with EV charging. This shift is driving the integration of additional services, transforming forecourts into multi-purpose destinations. GenAI is poised to become a core technology for the strategic deployment and continuous management of modern forecourt ecosystems. Its analytical power will inform key decisions, from optimising product placement in retail areas to determining the ideal type and number of additional facilities needed at various forecourts, depending on foot traffic and geographical location.
The increasing number of customers on-site, especially during busy charging periods, creates new operational challenges. A significant concern is congestion at EV charging points, which can lead to customer frustration and a potential loss of business if all charging infrastructure is occupied. GenAI can continuously monitor site traffic data, enabling more efficient operational management. This includes dynamically adjusting staffing levels to match demand. When integrated with fuel card platforms, this can be further enhanced through real-time, personalised offers delivered directly to drivers. Leveraging vehicle telematics data, the fuel card platform can ascertain a vehicle's current location and anticipate its planned route and remaining fuel or energy levels. This allows for automated route updates with targeted incentives, encouraging drivers to stop at specific sites through tailored fuel or site-specific promotions, thereby improving the overall operational efficiency of the forecourt network.
Fuel card operators themselves stand to benefit significantly from advancements in GenAI. GenAI can provide early warnings of potential customer churn, payment defaults, or shifts towards rival fuel card providers by analysing individual customers' and cards' regular fuelling patterns. This predictive capability allows operators to intervene proactively, for example, by issuing personalised offers designed to foster continued customer loyalty and usage. Furthermore, customer behaviour can be monitored more frequently to ensure each customer receives the most appropriate discount plan for their usage profile. This granular level of customer engagement, informed by GenAI, can contribute to deeper customer loyalty and sustained business relationships within the evolving fuel and payments ecosystem.
Generative AI (GenAI) is already boosting efficiency, and it's set to integrate into nearly every business area in the coming years, fuelling significant growth. This technology's future is both exciting and disruptive as it advances. One certainty is that GenAI will enable businesses to respond faster to evolving trends and dramatically improve back-office operations, leading to greater customer satisfaction and business expansion.
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Build Your Own Operating System with Cursor AI
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Daily Mail
02-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Nudifying apps are not 'a bit of fun' - they are seriously harmful and their existence is a scandal writes Children's Commissioner RACHEL DE SOUZA
I am horrified that children are growing up in a world where anyone can take a photo of them and digitally remove their clothes. They are growing up in a world where anyone can download the building blocks to develop an AI tool, which can create naked photos of real people. It will soon be illegal to use these building blocks in this way, but they will remain for sale by some of the biggest technology companies meaning they are still open to be misused. Earlier this year I published research looking at the existence of these apps that use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to create fake sexually explicit images through prompts from users. The report exposed the shocking underworld of deepfakes: it highlighted that nearly all deepfakes in circulation are pornographic in nature, and 99% of them feature girls or women – often because the apps are specifically trained to work on female bodies. In the past four years as Children's Commissioner, I have heard from a million children about their lives, their aspirations and their worries. Of all the worrying trends in online activity children have spoken to me about – from seeing hardcore porn on X to cosmetics and vapes being advertised to them through TikTok – the evolution of 'nudifying' apps to become tools that aid in the abuse and exploitation of children is perhaps the most mind-boggling. As one 16-year-old girl asked me: 'Do you know what the purpose of deepfake is? Because I don't see any positives.' Children, especially girls, are growing up fearing that a smartphone might at any point be used as a way of manipulating them. Girls tell me they're taking steps to keep themselves safe online in the same way we have come to expect in real life, like not walking home alone at night. 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Times
02-08-2025
- Times
High taxes, a recession: my fears for young job hunters in Scotland
I started employing my latest assistant in March this year and for reliability, productivity, speed and all-round knowledge, he's hard to beat. Unfailingly polite and endlessly resourceful, he's settled into my small in-house team of seven with ease. Everyone loves him. Although he is only five months old and his background is unknown, he's already indispensable. He is, of course, one of the new autonomous artificial intelligence agents — otherwise known as agentic AI. This is one of the first publicly available AI agents capable of independent planning, decision-making and real-world task execution without requiring detailed human oversight. In beta mode and available by invitation only — codes were changing hands for $1,000 recently — it is a glimpse of a future that is awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal measure. For the time being, I'm ignoring the fact that I've had to hand over a lot of personal information to gain access (admittedly much of it already available online) and that very little is known about the Chinese start-up behind the technology. It is simply too valuable a tool and I'm already hooked. Agentic AI is turbocharging technical aspects of my business that other AI tools simply can't reach. I'm an optimist about the advent of AI. Or I should say, I'm an optimist about humanity. Such tools can, and are, being used for destructive purposes. But this is the best argument for not withdrawing from research. If the good guys slow down, they simply hand advantage to the bad actors. I understand the arguments against AI that end with humanity facing Armageddon. But mankind is perfectly capable of orchestrating its own destruction without the use of artificial intelligence. We just have to look at Gaza and Ukraine to be reminded of the depth of human depravity. Meanwhile AI is already saving lives. All progress has provoked moral panic. From the coming of the railways to Elvis wiggling his hips. And while my new AI assistant sometimes leaves me feeling like an 18th-century peasant contemplating the wonders of the internal combustion engine, I know that it is actual intelligence combined with AI that gives us the breakthroughs and competitive edge we need. While the AI assistant can code, I still need to employ my full-stack developer to implement, evaluate and interpret the results. But what is certainly true is that AI is contributing to an upcoming economic upheaval for which Scotland is wholly unprepared. A toxic combination of political decisions by the Labour government at Westminster and the SNP government in Scotland, a mental health crisis among millennials and Gen Zs and weak economic growth have the potential to tip the country into recession. This month, the accountancy firm EY reported that Scotland's high income tax rates were seen as the main barrier to expansion in Scotland's financial services industry, which contributes about 10 per cent of the Scottish economy by value. All Scottish workers earning more than £30,318 pay more income tax than their English counterparts and the highest band is set at 48 per cent for Scotland compared with 45 per cent for the rest of the UK. The job market is being squeezed from both ends. According to McKinsey & Co, the number of job vacancies online fell by 31 per cent in the three months to May, compared with the same period in 2022, the year that ChatGPT was launched. Research from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation revealed that hiring fell in June at the fastest pace in almost two years. Sluggish growth and higher interest rates have been blamed but in occupations at entry level across all industries, including graduate traineeships and apprentices, jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate. The last apprentice I hired was unable to address an envelope and had no idea what a stamp was. She had a HNC in 'collective dance, specialising in hip-hop' and was about as prepared for the world of work as your average pigeon. She lasted three months. Somebody within the education system had let her down badly. Young people will be most seriously affected by the storm that is coming. They are also the group facing the biggest mental health crisis. In Scotland more than one million adults report that anxiety interferes with daily life. Gen Z and young millennials lose up to 60 days of productivity per year due to mental health issues compared with 36 days for older colleagues. The number of Scots out of work because of sickness and disability is at its highest level in 20 years and the number claiming disability payments in Scotland is set to almost double by 2030. Labour's plans under the Employment Rights Bill to remove the two-year qualifying period for key rights such as protection against unfair dismissal, parental leave and statutory sick pay, mean that many SMEs will not risk hiring staff without experience or a track record. That's if the SMEs stay in business. Confidence is at a low ebb. One in five small businesses believe they will be forced out of business if conditions don't improve. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 27 per cent of business owners believe their company will downsize, be sold or close in the next 12 months. For the first time in 15 years, pessimism has outweighed optimism. Even profitable SMEs wonder if the juice is still worth the squeeze. The government is not protecting the jobs we do have. The closure of the Grangemouth refinery and the threat by bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis to move Scottish production to Scarborough could lead to 400 jobs lost in the Falkirk area. Add in jobs lost in the supply chain and the number rises to four figures. Both companies have foreign ownership, which rather dampens enthusiasm for the SNP government's boast that Scotland punches above its weight for inward investment. The Grangemouth closure and a sharp fall in manufacturing output drove a 0.4 per cent GDP decline in the three months up to May. About 80 per cent of leisure and hospitality businesses believe the Scottish economy will decline this year. John Swinney has mentioned a possible Scottish recession, blaming US tariffs. Even without a recession, growth is weak and Scottish economic activity is fragile. Even boom sectors such as renewables are facing cuts. At least one of the country's largest employers has just cut nearly all its graduate jobs for the present cohort reaching the end of their two-year training stint. Recent recessions have not brought the same level of job losses that the UK experienced in the 1990s and before. But that is set to change, and we are not prepared. This will affect a generation, already struggling post-pandemic, for most of their lives. The Scottish government has deliberately and negligently failed to promote the nation's economic wellbeing at the expense of ideology which a majority of voters do not share. As Harold Macmillan pointed out, it is 'events, dear boy' that bring down governments. But it is policy decisions that cripple countries.
