This is a statistic that will never go away. Every day, humans generate at least 2.5 quintillion, or 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data. IBM included this almost unfathomable fact in its report on big data in 2011, and it has been cited repeatedly since then, but consider what has changed since then. From 3G to 5G and social media usage skyrocketing, the pandemic has moved many services online, from retail stores to restaurant ordering, telemedicine, and more.
All this data helps us save time, personalize our services, and thwart cyber-attacks. But that information is useless if we don’t understand it. This is why AI has become an essential business tool and, increasingly, a vehicle for social good.
AI is designed to find patterns in sets of data and can identify time-consuming tasks that impede productivity or subtle transactional anomalies that indicate account theft. In fact, in 2023, Mastercard’s AI-powered insights prevented $20 billion in fraud across its network.
Here are 2024 stories that demonstrate the benefits and potential of AI, and the importance of deploying it responsibly.
Combat fraud with generative AI
As generative AI becomes mainstream, complex forms of fraud will proliferate, providing criminals with powerful tools at little cost. In October, Rohit Chauhan, Executive Vice President of AI Fraud Solutions at Mastercard, said that businesses and consumers, including criminals who create digital twins that imitate humans, to defraud family, friends, and related businesses. It provided insight into how criminals can be countered.
Businesses are already using AI to combat cyber threats by making security tools smarter. Chauhan explains how generational AI can further these efforts by deciphering consumption habits at the individual and broader market level. These advanced fraud models can stop malicious activity faster while allowing more legitimate transactions to pass through.
But he added that low-tech solutions, such as using agreed-upon passwords or personal questions, often work just fine to thwart scammers posing as family members. Sometimes the secret is simply being human.
Personalize AI to improve employee engagement
AI is a cybersecurity superhero, but it can also act as its own Clark Kent-like alter ego, resident in offices to improve the employee experience. In May, Anshul Sheopuri, Mastercard’s executive vice president of human resources operations and insights, and Lucrecia Borgonovo, chief people and organizational effectiveness officer, announced that the company is helping employees manage their careers. We shared how we are using AI. From matching staff with the right projects to optimizing the use of office space, AI can improve your daily experience and inform your career path.
As an emerging technology, AI raises questions, concerns, and even fear. Sheopuri and Borgonovo explain that the best way to build trust is to ensure employees understand the company’s commitment to responsible and ethical AI. Not only do we use it, we use it to foster conversations about it. ”
Ensuring AI is inclusive
From improving medical outcomes to speeding disaster relief to increasing farm productivity, AI and data have great potential to drive positive change in struggling communities around the world. The key is getting AI into the hands of the people who need it most. In September, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth’s annual Impact Data Summit will bring together political leaders (including multilateral organizations such as the United Nations), academics, and nonprofit organizations. , technology company leaders shared how to leverage AI responsibly and at scale.
