AI

Last week's fintech newsletters devoted significant attention to how banks and payment companies are adopting AI in practice. American Banker Fintech covered several angles, including why Affirm is incorporating transformer tech into its underwriting, American Express touting AI alongside a planned 5% downsizing, how independents lag on AI and can catch up, and the challenge of responding to cyber threats in the age of AI, described as "a team sport." Sifted Fintech Newsletter examined the AI arms race among European fintechs, noting that "the true barrier to entry is scale." The FinTech Prose asked what it takes for AI to deliver real business value, while Next covered the "agentic edge" and who has it.

A cluster of newsletters focused specifically on AI agents and their access to money. Fintech Weekly reported that "Your AI Agent Wants to Move Your Money" and that Wall Street said no. Athena in the machine published two related pieces, one arguing AI agents will not pick the best restaurant but the loudest, and another stating that an agent can see your money but can't move it. Finovate Weekly noted that while some banks reject agent access, OnePay is going all in. Linas's Newsletter covered Citi joining JPMorgan in blocking AI agents, alongside separate items on Ramp seeking to hold company money, Claude Duet's late arrival in the AI agent race and OpenAI's exposure, Bank of America putting a figure on the cost of defending against AI, and OpenAI's London staff costing £2.3M each. Payments Wrap Up reported that Visa launched an agentic payments pilot with BILL and Billtrust, and Connecting the Dots in FinTech covered Paddle bringing billing into AI workflows.

Other newsletters addressed the broader implications of AI for jobs, security, and work itself. Make Banking Better argued that AI doesn't cut jobs, bank executives do. Banking Dive Newsletter covered Plaid's CEO warning that AI's rise could fuel a "scary year" for financial security. Fintech Wrap Up featured Eynat Guez, CEO of Papaya Global, on how AI agents will change how people work and get paid. Linas's Newsletter also covered "the attention bottleneck" as a separate topic.

Finally, The Generalist's Fintech Issues edition covered Pete Florence on robots improvising, a topic the newsletter addressed without further elaboration in the title.