Mastercard Buys in to AI with Brighterion
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition follows Mastercard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.”
Brighterion’s portfolio of AI and machine learning technologies provide real-time intelligence from all data sources regardless of type, complexity and volume, according to an announcement. Its Smart Agent technology will be added to Mastercard’s suite of security products already using AI, the company said.
“Brighterion has a focus on data analytics for fraud-detection, which clearly fits with Mastercard’s most pressing needs,” says Tim Sloane, vice president, payments innovation, Mercator Advisory Group. What’s more, he says Brighterion’s platform covers a wide range of capabilities, typically much broader than competitors. “These include traditional neural networks and Deep Learning tools and Smart Agents, as well as analytics capabilities such as data mining that includes unsupervised learning. Some of the areas that are more unusual for an AI or machine-learning supplier include fuzzy logic, business rules engine and case-based reasoning tools.
“AI, or I prefer the term machine learning (ML), is certainly hot, and for good reason,” Sloane adds. “ML implements a broad set of tools that have not been readily available in the past, if at all. It can now detect a user’s sentiment, emotion, attitude and even personality profile. … ML-based visual recognition can also be combined with behavioral data to enable highly accurate authentication of individuals.”
Terms of the agreement, which is subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed.
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