Visa has announced a $100 million investment in enterprises creating generative AI technology and applications that could influence the future of commerce and payments.
The 16-year-old worldwide corporate investment arm of the credit card company, Visa Ventures, will make the investment.
What is generative AI?
You’ve probably already heard about OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI chatbot, which became an overnight sensation at the end of last year and ignited a digital battle to develop and publish competitors. ChatGPT is only one illustration of generative AI.
In addition to ChatGPT from OpenAI, the world also saw DALLE-2 from the same developers, Stable Diffusion from Stability AI and Midjourney. All three projects are neural networks that create images based on short phrases entered by users. And this is most likely just the beginning.
For those not yet familiar with generative AI, it is a new subtype of AI that is taught on massive amounts of existing data to create text, pictures, video, and music given text clues. The main goal of generative AI is to create new content based on machine learning algorithms.
What are the features and achievements of generative AI? Previously, neural networks were limited by the inability to produce completely new, unique content. For example, the process of creating a painting was based on processing images already available on the network, and the final result was pure combinatorics.
In the case of generative AI, the neural network also studies an array of data but uses the information to obtain similar, but its own content. This method works especially well with the generation of visual objects, sound, and text. It can also be used for highly personalized products, such as advertisements.
Rise in popularity
Analysts predict that the generative AI market will grow to $110.8 billion by 2030 (up from just about $8 billion by the end of 2021). These forecasts are based on the current state of the industry and the trends we see in technology development. So, it is likely that this year we will see several more similar projects, and then they will appear as often as projects in other areas of IT.
However, at present, generative AI is still used mainly by researchers and developers, as well as representatives of creative professions. However, as soon as technology becomes more advanced and convenient, and there are more platforms for work, the number of users will also increase many times over. And this will happen in the next year or two.
We will see generative AI used widely by both businesses and everyday consumers. It will also help developers of various applications and games because, with the help of Generative AI, it will be easy to create anything: backgrounds, characters, animations, and descriptions – just write what you need.
It will help sales specialists write emails, and compose commercial proposals, and various promotional materials. Of course, the generated texts will require some correction, but this work will be comparable to the work we do when correcting auto-translation errors. Enter any text in English into DeepL or Google Translate and you will understand what we are talking about.
Generative AI for business
While generative AI began with large tech or digital companies, generative AI is now making its way into traditional areas, and once the model is trained, it can be customized for specific domains with much less data.
Generative AI is already showing satisfactory results in creating marketing and advertising materials, and it is also suitable for idea generation. Of course, these are all examples of one-way communication, but improvements in AI will also affect two-way communication. It will likely be able not only to communicate with clients according to given models but also to understand their requests and needs and respond to them almost like a person as an automated virtual phone attendant or chatbot does.
By using AI to handle routine requests, companies will be able to free up their employees to focus on more complex and important tasks. Additionally, AI can process a large number of queries simultaneously, making it an efficient and cost-effective solution for businesses.
Another area where generative AI can be useful is in sales. By using AI to create personalized recommendations and offers for customers, companies can increase conversions and, as a result, increase sales. And generative AI is already quite widely used in areas such as security systems, robotics control, and medicine. Thus, Generative AI helps doctors in the early detection of diseases and the implementation of more effective methods of prevention and treatment.
For those who are afraid that generative AI will suddenly deprive them of their jobs, the answer is that this technology, on the contrary, can create new jobs. It can be used by those who know how, for example, to write the right queries to obtain good generation results. And there are already platforms where talented “advanced people” can sell their tips. Additionally, the rise of generative AI may also lead to an increased need for professionals with creative abilities (e.g., writers, designers, story and character creators). These specialists will play a key role in maximizing the potential of generative AI and ensuring the high quality of results obtained using this technology.
And craftsmen from other fields also have nothing to worry about: good designers and artists, programmers and SEO specialists, editors, and text writers will always be valuable because their machines are unlikely to be able to fully replace them. But they will be able to push mediocre specialists out of the market. Therefore, fears that AI will destroy jobs are, in our opinion, greatly exaggerated. Talented and creative people will continue to be needed. And maybe even more than before, because they will help everyone else not to drown in the ocean of generated content.
VISA claims to be a “pioneer in the use of AI in payments”
“While much of generative AI so far has focused on tasks and content creation, this technology will soon not only change the way we live and work but will also fundamentally change commerce in ways we need to understand,” said Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer in a written statement.
David Rolfe, head of Visa Ventures, said generative AI has the potential to “be one of the most transformative technologies of our time.”
He told TechCrunch via email that Visa Ventures “has a lot of flexibility” in the number of investments it will make from the new fund and the average check size.
“Given the early stage of the industry, we expect to make a number of small, multi-million dollar investments,” Rolfe said. “However, we have the opportunity to make larger investments where there is a strong case for it.”
As for the criteria, he said Visa in particular is looking to support companies that “apply GenAI to solve real-world problems in commerce, payments and fintech.”
“This includes B2B processes related to payments, as well as infrastructure, which can have a profound impact on trade. We are interested in companies at different levels: from the organization of data for GenAI to the experience that users will have at work or in their personal lives,” added Rolf. “Visa can be an effective tool to help companies meet the next set of challenges to further develop commerce, and it is a way for us to connect with these startups. One of our key considerations is how well these companies practice responsible use of AI in accordance with Visa’s policies.”
In August, Marie-Elise Droga, who was named Visa’s new head of fintech late last year, noted that her team “collaborates frequently” with the Visa Ventures team, serving as a sort of search engine for Visa’s venture arm.
So, unless some force majeure happens on a global scale, the prospects for generative AI are very bright. It does not pose a threat to professionals in “competitive” fields, but it can bring considerable benefits to them and everyone else. And we will closely monitor new interesting projects.
