No Credit History? Ualá’s AI Has You Covered

AI news, leaders, business insights and more

Author

Dr. Ayesha Khanna
November 13, 2024 • Reading Time: 8 minutes

Hey there, AI enthusiasts! 

Today’s Lineup:

  • No Credit History? Ualá's AI Has You Covered

  • Pentagon's New Secret Weapon? Silicon Valley's AI Elite

  • Meet Sophia Velastegui, Chief Product Officer at Aptiv

  • Would You Pay $1m For A Painting By An AI?

  • Articles I’ve Been Reading

Super excited to announce the 3rd cohort of my Generative AI for Business Executives course. Don’t miss your chance to get ahead of the curve.

p.s. here’s a testimonial from a recent student 😊

“Great course! Ayesha's knowledge, content, and delivery are truly unmatched.”

— Robin Lee (General Manager, Hawk AI)

NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

No Credit History? Ualá’s AI Has You Covered

Ualá 37-year old founder Pierpaolo Barbieri. Photo: Screenshot from Bloomberg

Ualá, an Argentine fintech company, has raised $300 million at a $2.75 billion valuation. Launched in 2017, Ualá is now a leading Latin American fintech startup, serving over 8 million users across Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia through its mobile app.

  • Ualá's mission is to make financial services more accessible and user-friendly. Its app offers money transfers, bill payments, loans, insurance, investments, and BNPL, all linked to a prepaid Mastercard.

  • The company has thrived in Argentina, where traditional banking is inefficient and many lack bank accounts. 20% of Argentine adults now use Ualá, with 65% having no prior credit history.

So how does Ualá’s decide who is credit worthy when they have no credit history? You guessed it: by using AI 😎

  • The company has a proprietary AI-driven credit scoring system called UaláScore, which leverages over 300 data points, including user transaction data, mobile phone usage, bill payments, remittances, and merchant transactions, to create its own credit scoring system.

Here’s the thing: 1.4 billion adults globally remain unbanked. Can you imagine not having a bank account or a credit card to pay your doctor, your child’s school fees, to take a loan to buy a home? 😢 It’s so unfair.

Using the power of data and AI to help financial inclusion like Ualá is undeniable and one I hugely support.

Pentagon's New Secret Weapon? Silicon Valley's AI Elite

Anthropic's powerful AI models, Claude 3 and 3.5, are coming to U.S. intelligence and defense agencies. This is thanks to a new partnership between Anthropic and Palantir, whose AI Platform is already used for highly classified government work.

The goal? Automate complex data processing tasks to enhance intelligence analysis and operational efficiency.

Anthropic is not the only one going to the military:

  • Meta is giving US government agencies and defense contractors like Palantir access to its Llama AI models to help with things like logistics, planning, and cybersecurity.

  • This decision comes in the wake of news that Chinese researchers, including some connected to the military, have used the open-source Llama model to create an AI tool called "ChatBIT" that could be used for military intelligence gathering and analysis.

Keep a close eye on Palantir:

They're securing major U.S. military contracts and leveraging AI and data analysis to significantly boost defense capabilities. Examples:

  • TITAN Ground Station: Building a system to combine data from various sensors to give soldiers precise targeting information.

  • Project Maven: Creating an AI system that analyzes data from many sources to help intelligence analysts find key military targets faster.

  • Robotic Combat Vehicles: Developing software to make robotic vehicles more autonomous and aware on the battlefield.

A new arms race is underway, and this time it's about AI. The question isn't if countries will deploy AI in their militaries but how quickly they can do it safely.

WOMAN IN TECH

Sophia Velastegui, Chief Product Officer at Aptiv

Celebrating this week's Woman in Tech 🥳: Meet Sophia Velastegui, Chief Product Officer at Aptiv, the global automotive technology company valued at over $18 billion.

Born in South Korea, Velastegui's interest in science and technology was sparked at an early age by watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

She earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and MS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Her stellar career highlights across some of tech’s largest companies include:

  • 2009: At Apple, she contributed to the development of the first MacBook Air and iPad and later worked on projects like CarPlay and iCloud.

  • 2014: At Google, she led the Silicon and Architecture Roadmap team for Nest products.

  • 2017: At Microsoft, Velastegui spearheaded the integration of AI into various products like LinkedIn and Bing and led the charge in utilizing GPT-3 for internal projects and explorations.

  • 2022: At Aptiv, she focuses on advancing the software-defined future of mobility, leading 2,500 professionals the firm.

Velastegui was recognized by Business Insider as one of the "Most Powerful Female Engineers" in 2017 and 2018, and she won the Lumiere Distinguished Leadership Award.

“For women in tech, if you’ve ever been part of a transformation, adoption, or change management, you have a right to be at the table, so don’t be afraid to take your seat there.” - Sophia Velastegui

Now that’s a powerful statement. And I wholly endorse it! 💪🏾

Would You Pay $1m For A Painting By An AI?

The robot artist with its paintings. “AI God” is the painting on the right. Image: Credit: Ai-Da Robot Studios

Ai-Da, the first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist, created a 2.2-meter-tall portrait of Alan Turing titled "AI God." The artwork was sold at Sotheby's Digital Art Sale last Thursday for $1.08 million. 🤯

This groundbreaking sale of AI-generated art sparks debate about the future of creativity. Ai-Da uses eye cameras, AI algorithms, and a robotic arm to create art, and apparently even chooses her own subjects.

Robot Studios, who developed Ai-Da, stated, “We had a discussion with her about 'AI for good' which led to Ai-Da’ bringing up Alan Turing as a key person in the history of AI that she wanted to paint."

Cool …but is it worth $1 million?

Would you pay a million dollars for an AI painting?

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LATELY

Articles I’ve Been Reading:

The Vatican and Microsoft have transformed St. Peter's Basilica into an AI-powered digital experience. By employing drones, cameras, and lasers to capture every intricate detail, they've created an immersive digital twin that can be accessed virtually by remote visitors and offers an enhanced in-person experience for the Basilica's 50,000 daily visitors.

Upon witnessing this fusion of sacred history and modern technology, Pope Francis, as always, emphasized the ethical use of AI, stating, "The correct and constructive use of (AI's) potential, which is certainly useful but can be ambivalent, depends on us."

In this extraordinary meeting of Renaissance architecture and modern innovation, Michelangelo's masterpiece now reaches and inspires new generations in ways he could never have imagined. ✨

Do check out this lovely video about the project.

I was delighted to give the Centenary Keynote on AI at Tanglin Trust School. The real highlight was my time with the high school students.

Their confident and thoughtful questions about the future of work showed a generation ready to embrace AI and use it to make a difference.

Most striking was their natural value alignment – they instantly focused on how AI could lift up communities and solve real problems.

Today's youth aren't just observers of the AI revolution – they're already its shapers. Don't underestimate their abilities or their values. 😊

ps. Let's be friends on LinkedIn and Instagram, if you like this newsletter, share it with your friends and family here.

Until next time!

Ayesha ♥️

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