Visa Inc. is rolling out a platform to help its engineers quickly test advanced artificial-intelligence algorithms aimed at detecting and preventing credit-card fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported. The platform, built in house and slated to be launched later this year, is an example of the broader financial-services industry trend of using AI to detect patterns in transactions that could signal criminal behavior. The platform is cloud-based, meaning that Visa’s researchers and engineers can access it online from anywhere. “One of the transformative technologies of this era is going to be AI,” said Rajat Taneja, executive vice president of technology and operations for Visa, the largest U.S. card network by cards in circulation and transactions. The banking industry is expected to be the second biggest spender on AI systems this year, behind retail, according to market-research firm International Data Corp. Banks are on track to spend $5.3 billion on AI in 2019, growing to $12.4 billion in 2023, on such initiatives as fraud analysis, according to IDC. Visa said it has spent about $500 million over the past five years on AI and data-infrastructure projects.
