The fintech is partnering with Choice Financial in North Dakota to create a Douugh-branded checking account and debit card that will prominently feature an AI-based virtual assistant named Sophie.

For most retailers heading into this year’s holiday-season sales crunch, the epic Equifax data breach was only the latest in a series of escalating threats that are having a profound effect on the way they handle payments.

Neural network systems — which try to emulate the human brain — will become increasingly important as the stolen identities from the recent Equifax breach and others start surfacing in the coming years on fraudulent payment card or loan applications.

Facebook Messenger now supports person-to-person payments and customer service for PayPal, expanding the funding choices for repaying friends and family and the channels available to PayPal users sending P-to-P payments.

Personalized experiences are becoming more prevalent in banking with digital assistants and apps, thanks to AI. Getting more women on boards is part of the job for JPMorgan Chase's Karen Simon. Why aren't 'good guys' better allies? (Carrie Fisher sure is.)

Execs from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, BBVA, Ally Bank and others outlined their AI strategies, progress to date and lessons learned at BankAI this week.

As many as a dozen financial institutions are deploying IBM’s Watson to search for signs of employee misconduct so they can avoid a Wells Fargo-size scandal. But the legal and technical limits of its use are major issues.

Two realistic utopians -- David Orban, founder of the London think tank Network Society Research, and Himi Khan, executive V.P. at the virtual assistant tech startup Clinc – share their AI vision.

Banks such as Citigroup, Regions and TD have decided they need to offer mobile customers truly customized experiences. They are experimenting with different ways of doing so that come across as helpful without being intrusive.

Bankers need to set aside their post-crisis aversion to risk, recapture some of the magic they once practiced as innovators, fear fintechs less, and worry about the Googles and Amazons more, says Peter Memon, a bank IT veteran turned global consultant.