AI for the rest of us

In the most recent Apple WWDC24, Craig Federighi called Apple Intelligence as “AI for the rest of us.” It appears that Apple forged a slightly different path. Rather than pursuing the OpenAI tactics in a jaw-dropping way that some critics have compared to the movie “Her”, Apple coins their generative AI technology “Apple Intelligence”, focusing on creating personalized experience and infusing productivity in its suite of products with generative AI.

While it remains to be seen if this will truly be less prone to hallucinations, I do appreciate the approach that Apple has taken so far, as I wrote last week.

Will we see one AI ecosystem to rule it all? I suppose time will tell.

Speaking of ecosystem, Alipay+, the cross-border mobile payment platform owned by Ant, has announced plans to expand its footprint in European countries. It currently supports 14 international e-wallets and banking apps, which allows travelers to pay in their own local wallet when traveling to Germany for Euro 2024 for example.

I think we'd be seeing this more often :)

As expected, AI was also one of the key themes in last week's Fintech Week London , where I delivered a keynote on the dualities of AI. It's always a privilege to be able to share my thoughts on stage, and to be able to do so with colleagues that I admire on a topic that I am super passionate about makes it even better.

What I am reading ...

AI is pushing CIOs closer to the corner office than ever before.

Are CIOs moving from the back office to the center stage? With AI strategy gaining prominence, this does seems like the trend du jour. And as someone who spent years in corporate IT, this is fascinating to watch.

Farewell, Apple Pay Later

It wasn't that long ago that Apple was offering their version of Buy Now, Pay Later. But as of Monday, that option is no longer available, after Apple announced integration with Affirm at the recent WWDC24.

Gulp. That was short-lived.

Government disbursements in the digital world

Mailing checks for disbursements for disaster relief and other government payments may soon become a thing of the past in the U.S. (finally) with the Visa Digital Enablement Lite App.

"The process is likely to cut the time needed to distribute funds to recipients by several days or weeks, while eliminating much uncertainty and the potential for theft and fraud involved in shipping physical card payments and checks to recipients."

AI in fast food? Not so fast.

McDonald's is ending its Automated Order Taker pilot, which used AI in drive-thrus to expedite orders. Apparently, it's not quite ready yet.

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Last week, on One Vision podcast ...

What are the real problems that real people are facing, and what is the financial services industry doing about it? Barb, Mary, and Theo reunited for a new episode of One Vision —?FinTech Fuse! where we asked the rhetorical question of: “Do banks feel like the only way to compete is to put on a hoodie and pretend to be a startup?” Should we just put a .ai on everything? Perhaps time to consider Fintech Fuse dot AI??

All jokes aside, do check out startups such as Debbie — a fintech that rewards consumers for saving and paying off debt, and “Send Now, Pay Later” fintech Pomelo —?a remittance product on credit card rails. And don’t miss Mary’s new podcast: Money isn’t everything.

Till next time … heed Barb’s advice: “Think about your fundamentals first. Get to your fancy stuff later.”

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