Leveraging AI Tools in Investing and Innovation

Hello everyone, welcome to this session that I am delighted to be hosting with you Dr. Sida. So let me start by talking about what we want to talk about which has been dominating conference season over the past few years AI. So at Visa generally globally Visa has been dominating the scene obviously when it comes to AI and implementing AI but when it comes to the GCC in in specific a region that you're heading how is the implementation process when it comes to AI where are you deploying it the most and what are the opportunity pockets when it comes to the deployment of this new tech

thank you look that's a very interesting question and you're Right. AI is top of mind for so many of us. I'm pretty sure most of us in this room have used AI today. Yes. Yes.

Exactly. We all live and breathe and day-to-day AI AI. AI. And what we don't realize it while we're talking about the potential of AI, it's actually here.

It is here today. We are using it day in and day out. and we may not even realize it. It is something we at Visa think very deeply about. We see a lot of opportunity.

We also see some risks that need to be managed and we are constantly thinking about the two.

So how do we use it? Let me give you a couple of examples. Right? So from our point of view, we think AI can be used for driving our business. So with our partners, what do we do?

We work with our partners. We work with our friends. And we say, "Okay, how can I help you design a better product?

How can I help you work better with your card holders? How can I help you provide better offers?" All of that powered by AI. On the other hand, we also use it for a lot of uh fraud protection. So every single time you make a transaction on your Visa card, anybody wants to guess how many parameters are extracted from that transaction.

Hundreds, millions,

100 plus. That's right. Every time you tap, a 100 different data fields are taken. That goes to an AI model. that model creates a probabilistic view of whether that is a good transaction or not

comes back that is basically in simple words keeping you safe

right

and we've been doing that for almost 30 years so AI is something top of- mind AI is something we have invested more than 10 billion dollars in over the last few years we see the opportunity we see the risk risks and we will continue to lead the way.

Right. And before I get to the specific of the UAE where we are today because I want to tackle a question on the you know the the environment that sort of fosters AI in this country but the downside risks it's something we don't talk about very often when it comes to artificial intelligence. And I've been, you know, in Abu Dhabi Finance Week over the past couple of days and we spoke about Davos earlier and everyone talks about how great AI is. But when it comes to your line of business,

what are the biggest downside risks that are not often times talked about by people?

So there are a few. I think the best part of AI is everybody has access to it. The most dangerous part of AI is everyone has access to it.

So what you see so how many of you have seen uh over the last years right a message that says your Emirates ID is expiring or your passport or something but when you read that it's very easy to say a that's fake.

No I know people who fell for it. So

right,

it's going to unfortunately get better and better.

The way people use AI to reach out, the way people use AI to communicate, all that unfortunately is getting more and more sophisticated, which means as consumers, we have to be even more vigilant. We have to be even more on top of things. So, I think that's one big area in which AI is uh making things a bit more difficult because it's easier

to uh to basically spoof someone's identity if they're not truly on the lookout. I think with AI there are many other risks involved. Let's assume for a moment there's no bad intent, all good intent. AI is as good as the data,

right? And a lot of the data has inherent bias in it, right? There are experiments out there that if you ask AI to complete a sentence uh and you write a sentence, there is a doctor, the doctor is walking, there is a nurse, the nurse is walking, AI will say there is a doctor, he is walking, there is a nurse, she is walking.

Right.

Right. Again, it's just risks of of of bias. So there are many elements and it's something that needs to be thought about very very deeply.

Moving on to investment opportunities. Now we are in the UAE which houses an AI powerhouse in G42. There is other examples of that in the region in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. But when we talk about investment pockets when it comes to the region and not just in AI and fintech, wider technologies, digital assets, where do you see those and where is Visa deploying uh capital in the region?

So Visa is deeply invested in the region today. We serve about 86 markets in central, eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa that is based out of the region. It's the largest and the fastest growing market that we have is being serviced out of the region. We have hundreds of employees here. We have recently announced actually two days ago that we are setting up a new uh subcluster in or a region in uh Saudia that is going to oversee Bahrain, Arman and Saudi.

So we are continuously looking at growing and investing in the region. We have partnerships with a lot of the central banks and the governments on capability building and strengthening what we do. We have partnerships with uh with u for example with Dubai police on uh on safety security. I'm sure everybody sees a lot of the stay secure uh messages that go out. So it is a very deep partnership that's been there for many many years and will continue.

So when it comes to digital digital money or digital assets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the wider region, it seems to be moving you know that that sort of asset class seems to be moving at a really fast trajectory. Do you worry at all about the speed at which it is moving versus where regulation is at today? Yeah, I think digital assets is where the future of money movement is headed. That's clear.

And I would even say the way the UAE is regulating that is exceptional. If we just go back, I mean it's been what 15, 16, 17 years since the first digital assets landed on the scene. their usage has been going in one direction and not regulating in my opinion is is one solution but I would ask is it the best solution if I turn and if I look and if I see what's happening in the UAE with ADGM with VAR right I mean this week ADGM announced licenses with circle with Binance right I mean some amazing amazing Amazing amazing steps forward. I think that's the future. That's the future to work hand in hand and to figure out what are the guard rails, what is the ecosystem and then move forward from there because there is demand for this and if there is demand then it is incumbent upon us to provide responsible compliant solutions.

Now you mentioned the hundreds of people that work at visa just in the UAE and there are obviously thousands globally. I think the question towards is AI going to cut jobs? Am I going to lose my job because of AI is a little getting a little tired because that was a question that we used to ask when AI became such a big topic. But let me rephrase that question and ask what facets of your business do you see AI being deployed at and upscaling people's jobs or cutting costs or making jobs easier faster? Um and ultimately where will it cut jobs?

Yeah, let me check my crystal ball. Look, I think you're right. Any adv with the advent of any new technology, there is a shift. There is a shift. There is a change in what people do, how people do things.

How many people here woke up with an alarm clock today? I did, right? Many of us did. If this was a few centuries ago, we would have probably f and the alarm clock was just invented. There would have been a strike outside because there were people called the wakeupers who would be saying, "Hey, technology is bad.

You're taking away my job."

And they were right for that time. But every single time there is new technology, there is change. There's no two ways about that. I think this technology is very very powerful at certain things at taking a lot of smart repetitive tasks and just automating a lot of them and it is incumbent upon us to retool ourselves

and to think about how am I going to better learn and leverage this technology. So I'll give you an example. I spent five hours this week on Zapier. Anybody uses Zapier here? It was it was one of my first times where I actually sat down and spent a lot of time on it.

And I said, I want to code and figure out how to create a news digest for myself so that it'll give me exactly what I want because what I find so frustrating is if you get the same article but five times. I wanted to do away with that. Five hours. I went through it. I figured out how to do it.

It's uncomfortable. It's challenging. And you know, so many times when you're doing it, you're like, can I, you know, let me do something else. So I think that is that is the the opportunity, but also the threat that AI presents. There will be retooling required.

There will be a lot of repetitive jobs, smart jobs that are going to not not be done away with, but I think there will be more efficient ways of doing it. As long as we retool and as long as we keep building our capabilities, I think there will be a lot of room and a lot of economic growth,

right,

with change. And when it comes to women in specific because this is after all an event about women in finance um and you know we talk a lot about where women stand when it comes uh to job opportunities but when it comes to AI enhancing or you know if you were upscaling the role of women in the in the job place how do you how do you see that? Look, I think women from what I have seen are exceptionally resilient. Not to take away from anyone, but women are exceptionally resilient. We are good at adapting.

We are good at change. And it the next few years will be times of a lot of change. Mhm.

So I think for me just from the way women are wired it's something we are ready and very able to deal with. There are always the there's always the threat that either because of data or because of lack of awareness or frankly even because of lack of being pushed we may become complacent. Mhm.

But I would actually say that there is an opportunity right now. There is an opportunity for each and every one of us to retool, to push ourselves, and to grow. What we were just talking about earlier, it's so easy to stay doing what you're doing.

Yeah.

But that's not where you truly grow and where you truly shine. So, this is an opportunity. It's an equalizer. It's an it's a way for each and every one of us to say what more do I want to do and take a chance.

Right? We've got about a minute left and this is rather a philosophical question to to end with but I've been thinking about this especially over the past four days and when it comes to AI adoption uh or new technology adoptions um in 10 years time what do you think failure would have looked like if we misuse uh AI or new technologies when it comes to uh digital payments digital money or assets I think failure will be if we don't proactively shape the future but let the future be shaped by other forces. That to me would be a true missed opportunity. I cannot think of a better time and a better place in the world where the future can be shaped, where the future can be driven and the future can be written than here, right now. So to me, that is what I would look at.

Let's shape the future together.

Those are wise words to end with. I see the screens flashing, but thank you so much for your time today and thank you to the audience for listening and to the Atlantic Council team for inviting us over. Thank you.