Technology companies Meta, Spotify, Match Group and Garmin have founded a lobbying group that said it will “combat anti-competitive practices by smartphone platform owners.” The Coalition for a Competitive Mobile Experience (CCME) will advocate for hardware and software interoperability, a level playing field in the app marketplace and age verification at the app store level. Specifically, the group said that smartphone providers should ensure that competitors’ software, apps and hardware work seamlessly with their devices; app store providers should allow competing app stores to work on their operating systems without unreasonable interference; and app stores should be responsible for enforcing age-based content restrictions. “Smartphones have become one of the most important tools in our daily lives, but the mobile experience is controlled by gatekeepers that have used their control of the market to stifle competition and choice at the expense of consumers,” CCME Director Brandon Kressin said. The issues on which the group is focused “will give consumers the power they deserve, providing more freedom and access, all while lowering costs,” Kressin said.
The ‘era of experience’ will unleash self-learning AI agents across the web— AI systems rely increasingly less on human-provided data and improve themselves by gathering data from and interacting with the world
David Silver and Richard Sutton, two renowned AI scientists, argue in a new paper that artificial intelligence is about to enter a new phase, the “Era of Experience.” This is where AI systems rely increasingly less on human-provided data and improve themselves by gathering data from and interacting with the world. While the paper is conceptual and forward-looking, it has direct implications for enterprises that aim to build with and for future AI agents and systems. According to the authors, in addition to learning from their own experiential data, future AI systems will “break through the limitations of human-centric AI systems” across four dimensions: Streams, Actions and observations, Rewards, Planning and reasoning. Buried in Sutton and Silver’s paper is an observation that will have important implications for real-world applications: “The agent may use ‘human-friendly’ actions and observations such as user interfaces, that naturally facilitate communication and collaboration with the user. The agent may also take ‘machine-friendly’ actions that execute code and call APIs, allowing the agent to act autonomously in service of its goals.” The era of experience means that developers will have to build their applications not only for humans but also with AI agents in mind. You will also need to design your APIs and agentic interfaces to provide access to both actions and observations. This will enable agents to gradually reason about and learn from their interactions with your applications. If the vision that Sutton and Silver present becomes reality, there will soon be billions of agents roaming around the web (and soon in the physical world) to accomplish tasks. “By building upon the foundations of RL and adapting its core principles to the challenges of this new era, we can unlock the full potential of autonomous learning and pave the way to truly superhuman intelligence,” Sutton and Silver write.
Humanoid robot mass adoption will start in 2028, says Bank Of America- annual shipments could hit 1 million by 2030, with a production cost of just $17,000 per unit
Humanoid robots will begin a mass adoption trend for commercial use as early as 2028, according to a new Bank of America research report. Annual shipments could hit 1 million by 2030, with a production cost of just $17,000 per unit. “BofA Global Research believes the adoption of humanoid robots will follow a three-stage development trajectory in the coming decade, starting from industrial and logistic applications, then on to business services, and finally to household use,” a company representative told me via email. “In the long run, BofA Global Research expects the total units in ownership for humanoid robots to reach an estimated three billion units globally by 2060.” That three billion unit projection is based on three assumptions:
- Humanoid robots can replace 20% of the world’ industrial sector human employees
- Humanoid robots can replace between 1.5 and 2.5 works in the industrial and service sectors
- Humanoid robots will reach a penetration rate of .7 units per household
According to the report, the first mass commercializations period for humanoid robots will be from 2028 to 2034, and it will focus on commercial use. The second mass adoption period will be for home and all other uses, and will run from 2035 onwards. Futurists like Peter Diamandis have speculated that robots will help us in our homes with laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and all other tasks, and serve multiple purposes in healthcare, elder care, manufacturing, transport, and the service industry. Bank of America says that humanoid robot manufactures will ship 18,000 units this year, in 2025. By 2030, researchers expect that shipments will reach up to 10 million units globally per year. Interestingly, the report suggests that the vast majority of humanoid robots will be household tools, with about two billion of the three billion shipped by 2060 in use in private homes, versus about a billion in the service industry, and only a few hundred million in industrial settings. If so, that could be good news for human workers: many of the household robots will be replacing unpaid work that people do for themselves, rather than paid work by employees.
Stripe Radar now protects ACH and SEPA payments from fraud- reporting a 42% reduction in SEPA fraud and a 20% reduction in ACH fraud
Stripe announced an expansion of Radar, Stripe’s AI-powered fraud prevention product, for ACH and SEPA payments. Radar assesses more than 1,000 characteristics of a potential transaction in order to determine, in less than 100 milliseconds, the likelihood that it’s fraudulent. On average, Radar users see a 42% reduction in SEPA fraud and a 20% reduction in ACH fraud. Ben Winfield, Radar product manager, wrote “Over the last year, we’ve seen a 40% increase in noncard payment volume on Stripe. Now, we’re extending Radar fraud protection to ACH and SEPA payments. We’ve applied the same AI architecture Radar uses for cards to new models that automatically screen and help block risky ACH and SEPA transactions.”
Bank workers coalition claims problematic human capital management practices that led to the fake account scandal may be making a comeback at Wells Fargo
Concerns have resurfaced about sales practices at Wells Fargo almost a decade after the bank was embroiled in a fake account scandal. According to a report by the Committee for Better Banks, a coalition representing frontline bank workers and unions, the pressure on staff to deliver sales goals has returned at the US bank.
The findings come after Wells Fargo was hit with a record fine by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2016 after employees had opened millions of unauthorised accounts for customers to meet aggressive internal sales targets. The scandal resulted in sweeping changes at the bank, which included the removal of product-based sales goals for retail staff. However, the report alleges that sales goals are being reintroduced under new terminology, such as “outcomes”, with scores on these metrics determining whether employees will receive raises, incentives or bonuses. The report finds that branch managers are also required to track “production outcomes”, such as new accounts opened and loan growth, with lower-volume branches flagged for possible closure. The report further states that employees at the bank say “outbound calling requirements”, once common during the scandal era to push sales, have returned. Staff performance, the report suggests, is being measured by the number of calls made to clients, the number of customer contacts made, and the number of appointments booked. These metrics, according to existing staff cited in the report, have become a formal part of performance evaluations, a shift that they view as a return to pre-scandal practices. “Wells Fargo workers are telling us loud and clear: the conditions that led to billions in fines and widespread consumer harm are returning,” said Nick Weiner, organising director at the Committee for Better Banks. When the CFPB issued its fine totalling $185mn in 2016, it said that thousands of employees at Wells Fargo may have opened more than 2mn deposit and credit card accounts across the country without customers’ permission. Richard Cordray, then director of the CFPB, said at the time that the penalty “should serve notice to the entire industry”.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management extends institutional private equity to individual investors, focused on lower middle market and offering more liquidity options compared to the large cap segment
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) launched the North Haven Private Assets Fund (NHPAF), an SEC-registered evergreen investment fund designed to offer select investors the opportunity to obtain institutional-quality private equity exposure primarily through co-investments and secondaries in the lower middle market. This is MSIM’s first evergreen private equity offering and follows the introduction of retail private credit and real assets strategies over the last five years. NHPAF is managed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions, MSIM’s multi-manager private equity solutions platform, which has a 25-year track record and a longstanding network of relationships with GPs. Combined with the broader resources of Morgan Stanley, the Fund is expected to benefit from the potential for robust deal flow as well as meaningful diligence advantages. Neha Champaneria Markle, the Head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions, said:” We believe that the lower middle market offers a broad opportunity set characterized by lower entry valuations, greater potential for organic and M&A-driven growth, and more liquidity options compared to the large cap segment. We think this thematic emphasis, along with our demonstrated history of experience, and disciplined and careful manager diversification, will enable us to offer the potential for differentiated performance and downside risk protection.”
JPMorgan Chase and Capital One outpaced other banks in analyst Evident’s global AI hiring index; Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo round out Top 5
Despite broader industry job cuts, the world’s biggest banks are doubling down on their hiring of artificial intelligence specialists, according to new data from Evident. The benchmarking index’s April 2025 AI Talent Report, which claims to draw from millions of publicly available data points, shows that AI roles in banking have surged 13% over the past six months, marking the most significant jump in two years. The findings reveal that one in every fifty banking employees now works in an AI-specific role—a stark contrast to wider workforce reductions, with industry headcount declining by roughly 3% over the past two years. The numbers paint a clear picture: while many departments have reduced numbers, AI is fast becoming an island of growth and investment. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup are leading the charge, topping Evident’s global AI hiring index. They are joined by Bank of America and Capital One, rounding out the top five AI employers. Together, the top ten banks account for nearly half (48%) of all AI roles in the banking sector.Notably, JPMorgan Chase and Capital One outpaced even this elite group, growing their AI talent pools faster than the overall Index rate. Evident co-founder and CEO Alexandra Mousavizadeh, an economist who also built Tortoise Media’s Global AI Index, said that AI roles in the banking sector “may be the only safe jobs right now.” AI Development, the domain responsible for building models and algorithms, saw a 6% rise. Data Engineering—covering the specialists who prepare and manage the vast datasets that feed AI systems—rose 14%. But the standout growth came from AI Software Implementation, which leapt 42%, albeit from a smaller base. This suggests a maturing phase, as banks shift focus from conceptual frameworks to scaled deployment of AI applications. Evident’s data also reveals that these top-tier banks report twice as many AI use cases as their peers and are 1.5 times more likely to measure and disclose return on investment from their AI initiatives. Evident commented that this correlation between talent and tangible results “signals a widening strategic gap between industry leaders and laggards”. BBVA stands out among the top ten for its comprehensive AI hiring. It surpassed growth benchmarks across all capability areas, expanding its AI workforce by 18%. The bank is aggressively scaling its “AI Factories” model, opening new centres of excellence in Mexico and Turkey as part of a broader push to embed AI across global operations. Behind the frontrunners, a new cohort of fast movers is emerging. CommBank, BNY, TD Bank, and Lloyds Banking Group all increased their AI headcount by more than 21%, suggesting a concerted effort to close the distance with the leaders. Capital One, in particular, is making targeted investments in Data Engineering to maintain its identity as a tech-first institution. JPMorgan Chase continues to scale advanced tools like its Quest IndexGPT, a system for generating personalised equity baskets. Meanwhile, Citigroup is focusing on infrastructure, leveraging partnerships such as its collaboration with Numerated to streamline borrower data collection. Wells Fargo and Bank of America are bolstering their AI Development teams, pointing to a strategy centred on retooling retail operations and strengthening mobile service offerings.
JPMorgan names new leadership for key commercial banking units- Innovation Economy (IE) sector and Specialized Industries (SI) sector
JPMorgan Chase has appointed Andrew Kresse and Brian Lamb to lead two key sectors in its commercial banking business, the largest U.S. lender said, as it continues to reorganize the unit. The move follows a greater leadership reshuffle in February in which Melissa Smith and Matt Sable were appointed co-heads of commercial banking, a unit that serves over 70,000 clients across 154 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Kresse, a two-decade company veteran, will co-lead the Innovation Economy (IE) sector, along with John China.
The IE sector employs 500 bankers serving nearly 10,000 venture capital firms, founders, and high-growth venture-backed companies across U.S. and Canada. Kresse has previously led the international expansion of the bank’s heritage Corporate Client Banking (hCCB) International business and established IE teams in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. He takes over the role from Smith. Lamb will head the Specialized Industries (SI) sector, which provides industry expertise and tailored solutions to businesses and organizations across a wide range of sectors.
Kresse and Lamb will both report to Smith and Sable.
Fiserv has become the nation’s first chartered merchant acquirer limited purpose bank (MALPB) to process card-based payment transactions with direct access to the payment card networks
The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance said that Fiserv merchant acquirer limited purpose bank (MALPB) has become the nation’s first chartered MALPB to process card-based payment transactions. The wholly owned subsidiary of Fiserv had its charter application approved by the Department on Sept. 27, received its permit to begin business from the Department on April 11 and processed the first payment transactions under its MALPB charter. The Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank Act, created an optional bank charter for merchant acquirers that provides direct access to the payment card networks without having to contract with a third-party bank sponsor. Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp said that the step taken by Fiserv MALPB enables it and other companies to expand and keeps Georgia “the No. 1 state for processing payments.” “As the first-of-its-kind bank charter in the nation, this milestone also reinforces Georgia’s position as the leader in innovation when it comes to financial transactions,” Kemp said. Kevin Hagler, commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance, said: “The issuance of MALPB charters along with the Department’s robust regulatory oversight will help strengthen the vibrant and diverse economy of this state by permitting the safe and sound growth of this critical industry to Georgia.”
Robinhood’s cryptocurrency transaction-based revenues reached $252 million in Q1 2025, doubling year over year
Robinhood is aggressively expanding into cryptocurrency, with cryptocurrency transaction-based revenues reaching $252 million in Q1 2025, doubling year over year and accounting for more than 43% of Robinhood’s total transaction revenue. The company also has plans to acquire Bitstamp to broaden its global and institutional reach. Robinhood’s cryptocurrency transaction-based revenues reached $252 million in Q1 2025, doubling year over year and accounting for more than 43% of Robinhood’s total transaction revenue. “Bitstamp positions us to serve a much broader customer base with institutional-grade infrastructure and licensing across key international markets,” CEO Vlad Tenev said. The deal is expected to close midyear, pending regulatory approval, and would expand Robinhood’s international crypto footprint by adding nearly 50 licenses and registrations globally. The acquisition also marks a pivot from Robinhood’s original retail-only crypto focus to a more diversified, vertically integrated crypto platform. Robinhood is diversifying its offerings beyond trading, launching products like an AI-powered assistant (Cortex), a managed investment service (Strategies), and expanding its premium Gold membership, as it aims to be a comprehensive financial platform amid regulatory and market risks. For the quarter, revenue was up 50% year over year to $927 million and net income more than doubled; funded customer accounts grew to 25.8 million, and total platform assets rose to $221 billion, including $25 billion in crypto holdings.