Visa Inc. said late Monday it was launching a $100 million generative AI ventures initiative.
In a statement, the payments company said the initiative is intended to invest in “the next generation of companies focused on developing generative AI technologies and applications that will impact the future of commerce and payments.”
Referring to itself as “a pioneer of AI use in payments since 1993,” Visa
V,
said the initiative will be led by Visa Ventures, the company’s global corporate-investment unit.
“With generative AI’s potential to be one of the most transformative technologies of our time, we are excited to expand our focus to invest in some of the most innovative and disruptive venture-backed startups building across generative AI, commerce and payments,” said David Rolf, head of Visa Ventures, in a statement.
The company joins a growing list of financial firms embracing the new technology, such as Morgan Stanley
MS,
which became one of the first customers to use GPT-4, the newest iteration of Microsoft Corp. -backed
MSFT,
Open AI’s ChatGPT generative AI.
Visa shares closed Monday up 0.6% at $231.27, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
of which Visa is a component, slipped 0.2. Visa shares are up 11.3% year to date, while the Dow is up 0.9%, the S&P 500 index
SPX
has gained 11.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
has advanced 27.2%
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