Ken Ringdahl, CTO at Emburse
What is AI’s role in the digital payment’s ecosystem?
Payments have developed from infrastructure into intelligence. Finance teams demand systems that don’t merely move money but also protect every transaction. Within the digital payments ecosystem there are a multitude of interconnected players, including merchants, banks, consumers, and payment processors. While current payment processes and anti-fraud measures can still be manual and inefficient, the industry is making significant investments in AI, with it set to rise from $35 billion to $97 million by 2027. It is evident that this technology could reshape the global financial landscape and has already automated routine tasks for greater efficiency and created enhanced fraud protection.
What further investment in AI could mean for payment processing services
The true frontier lies not only in automating manual tasks but also in developing self-optimising financial ecosystems that can independently adjust to changing market conditions, vendor behaviours, and emerging threats.
As there is increased investment in AI, the ways it can be used will grow, such as creating improved efficiency, improving data privacy, and reducing friction across the expense process. Efficient and purpose-built AI systems can deal with customer pain points like manual data entry, delivering intelligent and proactive insights, and autonomously streamlining tasks such as document transcriptions, spend classifications, audits and risk assessment allowing finance teams to act faster and more confidently.
Further investment in artificial intelligence will likely continue this trend but will also continue to increase efficiency in payment processing, reducing time and manual effort, improving accuracy and streamlining processes for finance teams all while maintaining full control of their policies.
How is AI changing the fraud detection landscape?
AI is becoming essential to the finance sector to combating threats and detecting cyber criminals however, there is an increasing number of cybercriminals leveraging AI. This has resulted in sophisticated attacks, which are becoming harder to detect using traditional methods. The challenge is further complicated by concerns surrounding data security and control, as these tactics used by criminals can only become more efficient with artificial technology.
To address these challenges, companies are investing in advanced fraud detection systems powered by AI. These systems analyse billions of transactions in real time to identify patterns associated with fraudulent behaviour while reducing false positives that inconvenience legitimate users. Modern AI must learn continuously, anticipate risks before they surface, and autonomously adapt defenses in real-time.
The path forward for AI and payment processing
Even though AI models and apps are still making news, the financial industry is already making a difference in the real world by improving efficiency and privacy. As AI continues to evolve, its ability to adapt to new threats will play a critical role in safeguarding payment systems and is partly why companies are keen to keep investing in the technology.
Overall, further investment in AI will not only enhance efficiency but also redefine how payment processing services operate by improving security, scalability, and customer experience. However, balancing innovation with robust governance frameworks will be crucial to mitigating risks and ensuring sustainable growth in this increasingly AI-centric sector.
