Square has launched a conversational AI assistant that can answer sellers’ questions about how to use Square’s business technology platform and about trends in their own business. The AI assistant, Square AI, is available now in public beta for all sellers in the U.S. and is integrated into the Square Dashboard. “Our goal is to give each seller their own virtual employee that knows every bit of their business,” Willem Avé, global head of product at Square, said. When asked questions about using the platform, the AI assistant searches its knowledge base and provides step-by-step instructions. To answer questions about the seller’s business, Square AI uses the seller’s relevant data within Square to provide the answer. It can answer questions about sales, customers, staff and transactions, enabling sellers to optimize staff hours, identify slow-moving inventory, maximize top sellers and recognize top customers. The company will expand these capabilities throughout the year. To protect the data within the business, the AI assistant is only available for account owners and administrators. In addition, Square never sends sensitive information to model providers or partners, and it ensures no data processed by third-party companies is retained outside of Square systems or used for any type of training.
Zscaler can identify new and unexpected sensitive content across >200 categories and beyond traditional regex-based signature detection for granular data security posture assessment
Zscaler, a leading cloud security provider, has introduced advanced AI security capabilities and innovative innovations to improve data security and prevent cyberattacks. These advancements address challenges such as safeguarding proprietary information and maintaining regulatory compliance. Zscaler’s platform connects users, devices, and data across distributed environments, leveraging the world’s largest inline security cloud. The AI engines deliver accurate threat detection and automated security, while the latest AI-focused solutions unify users, applications, devices, clouds, and branches, enabling seamless collaboration and precision deployment. The following solutions—showcased during Zenith Live 2025—are available for Zscaler customers to accelerate secure, AI-driven innovation:
AI-powered Data Security Classification: Zscaler’s newest AI-powered data security classification brings human-like intuition to identifying sensitive content, now including more than 200 categories, allowing advanced classifications that find new and unexpected sensitive data beyond traditional regex-based signature detection. As a result, organizations can get very granular data security posture assessment in a fraction of the time.
Enhanced Generative AI Protections with Expanded Prompt Visibility: Zscaler delivers greater visibility and control over GenAI applications, including Microsoft CoPilot, by enabling advanced prompt classification and inspection. Organizations can block prompts that violate policies and leverage existing DLP capabilities to safeguard sensitive data and ensure compliance across AI-powered workflows.
AI-Powered Segmentation: Enhancements include the first purpose-built user-to-application segmentation AI automation engine to now simplify app management, app grouping and segmentation workflows with user identity built in. This capability significantly accelerates the segmentation workflow to rapidly improve an organization’s security posture.
Bain & Co to leverage Terralytiq’s AI-driven Scope 3 decarbonization analytics platform to help companies identify and track emissions reductions at a granular level and automate supplier outreach
Bain & Company, a leading global management consulting firm, announced a strategic partnership with Terralytiq, a supply chain decarbonization intelligence solutions provider with a mission to reduce one billion tons of industry emissions by 2030. The partnership pairs Bain’s deep industry expertise in strategic advisory and business transformation with Terralytiq’s ability to deliver advanced decarbonization analytics, as companies around the world contend with how to lower emissions, particularly Scope 3, and achieve 2030 near-term targets. Together, Bain and Terralytiq will jointly support clients and co-develop a set of enhanced offerings backed by Terralytiq’s AI-driven Scope 3 intelligence platform and decarbonization copilot. This will provide companies with the capabilities needed to identify emissions reductions at a granular level, create supplier- and facility-specific product carbon footprints based on procurement data, and automate supplier outreach and eliminate months of manual data collection, reducing the time needed between planning and execution. Torsten Lichtenau, senior partner and global head of Bain & Company’s Climate Change and Decarbonization solution. “Scope 3 emissions are notoriously difficult to both measure and abate. This strategic partnership will give our clients access to enhanced analytics tracking capabilities backed by Bain proprietary benchmarks and strategic insight, turning raw data into board-ready cases aimed at informing business leaders who are working to crack Scope 3 and beyond.” “Early adopters of our solutions have been known to cut Scope 3 data-collection time by up to 70% while identifying multimillion-dollar cost and risk savings,” said Alexander Pfeiffer, co-founder & CEO at Terralytiq.
Paragon Bank’s smart savings app connects effortlessly with a customer’s existing current account enabling customers to view their current account balance in the savings app and seamlessly move money between accounts
Paragon Bank has partnered with Moneyhub to launch ‘Spring’, a Paragon savings app designed to help UK consumers maximise their savings. This collaboration leverages Moneyhub’s data and insights platform to provide seamless Account Information Services (AIS) and Payment Initiation Services (PIS), enhancing the app’s capabilities and user experience. Spring aims to address the issue of “current account coasting”, where over 29 million UK adults leave their money in low or zero-interest accounts, missing out on billions in potential interest. Spring offers a competitive interest rate of 4.30% AER, significantly higher than typical rates available from Big 6 banks, without the need to switch current account provider. Spring uses Moneyhub’s Open Banking technology, allowing it to connect effortlessly with a customer’s existing current account. This integration enables customers to view their current account balance in the Spring app and seamlessly move money between accounts, providing users with full control over their savings. The app also offers features such as savings pots and unlimited withdrawals, all without hidden fees or restrictions. This partnership has proven to be highly effective, marking the beginning of a journey focused on long-term vision and data utilisation to enhance financial outcomes for Paragon’s customers.
Car sharing startup Zevo’s EV-only fleet allows ‘contactless’ sharing between owners and renters without having to hand over keys and lets hosts earn back 35%-65% of the cost of their car in just a year
Peer to peer car sharing startup Zevo has raised $6 million in funding as it looks to expand across more major U.S. cities. Co-founder Hebron Sher says Zevo has “the secret sauce on how to make car sharing very lucrative for the host and very affordable for the renter. We very intentionally raised private capital. We rejected VC capital for that reason. I didn’t want to be on a 12-month to 18-month runway of ‘spend, spend, spend, spend,’ which is how corporate America likes to do things in this world.” Bootstrapping Zevo allowed Sher to gather good engineers, develop a strong go-to-market strategy, and cause “true disruption,” he said. By keeping things focused, Sher said Zevo is able to send more money to the vehicle owners than they’d get on platforms like Turo. Sher also talked up Zevo’s “contactless” process, which allows owners and renters to share a car without having to hand over keys or key cards. Zevo’s contactless nature is front-and-center because the service only uses EVs, which tend to be more technologically capable and therefore easier to integrate in a smartphone app. This connectivity also makes it easier to integrate other important pieces of the car-sharing equation, like commercial insurance. The result of all this is that, in the early going, Zevo is seeing a median rental of around 80 days. Hosts, meanwhile, can make back between 35% and 65% of the cost of their car in just a year, according to Sher. Since 90% of the vehicles on the platform are Teslas, that has Sher feeling pretty confident that he’s been able to find a different way to deliver on Musk’s promise from 2019.
Survey finds kids are demonstrating great money skills around saving, earning and spending through regular goal setting with 54% of savings put into pots for specific goals, such as saving up to buy a computer game, or for an upcoming holiday
New findings from the 2025 Pocket Money Index, analysing data from over 350,000 Rooster Card users, show that kids are building their understanding and confidence around saving, earning and spending with regular goal setting and a variety of income streams. While overall income has fallen by 1% to £9.13 a week, parents are stepping up and rewarding more for chores and hard work. The findings show kids on average are spending more and saving less, as sticky inflation continues to rack up prices. Overall, kids managed to set aside £30.38 of their annual income on average over the year, which shows savings as a percentage of annual income have fallen by 33% since last year and almost half (48%) since 2022. Age factors into kids’ savings significantly, with older kids tending to spend more of their income, in turn, resulting in less being saved. Whereas their younger counterparts are more inclined to save, with six-year-olds still having on average 31.4% of their income stashed away at the end of the year. Although older kids save less than their younger counterparts, they’re continuing to demonstrate great money skills by setting goals and completing chores to work towards their wants and needs. Practicing these healthy money habits regularly all helps towards building their money confidence and gaining that extra independence. Yet despite facing a tricky economy, kids continue to demonstrate budgeting skills, making sure to put their money aside for the things they really want. 54% of savings through the year were put into pots for specific goals, such as saving up to buy a computer game, or for an upcoming holiday. Although kids’ overall income – which includes pocket money as well as payments for additional chores, and one-off rewards – has fallen since last year, parents are generously upping the price for chores, incentivising kids to work harder and earn more. The data also shows that tooth fairy visits are beating inflation as the price for a lost tooth has increased by 5.25% to £4.21.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives backs Conquest Planning’s AI platform that allows advisors to accurately understand the impact of different scenarios on clients’ goals and recommend the next best decision by performing thousands of complex calculations around every piece of information in a financial plan
Conquest Planning, a technology platform modernizing financial planning with customized and convenient advice, today announced it has raised $80 million USD ($110 million CAD) in Series B funding led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The round attracted additional new investors, including Canapi Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage software and fintech companies, as well as BDC Capital, Citi Ventures, TIAA Ventures and USAA. Existing investors BNY and Portage also participated in the round, which brings Conquest’s total funding to over $100 million USD. Conquest will leverage this fresh capital to accelerate its U.S. expansion, while also funding the continued evolution of its AI-based Strategic Advice Manager (SAM). SAM’s revolutionary AI planning engine performs thousands of complex calculations around every piece of information in an individual’s financial plan, which allows advisors and their clients to quickly and accurately understand the impact of different scenarios on clients’ goals and recommend the next best financial decision. Conquest will continue to invest in its technology to support more robust plan analysis, enable more efficient onboarding and plan creation and create tools and modules that lead to dynamic content creation. Conquest’s new offering, dubbed SAM Bytes, enables advisors to remain engaged with self-directed investors during these planning moments to foster a sustained relationship built on trust.
Promoting financial literacy requires banks to provide access to relevant information through live learning sessions with credit experts and self-paced modules and investing the time to engage community leaders and nonprofits in creating right resources
For nearly two decades, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and mentor a lot of high school and college students. While we talk about their experiences growing up and personal and professional ambitions, many of our conversations center on financial literacy. And the reason is young people need to understand how finances and credit can impact their lives. Financial literacy isn’t just a skill; it’s a life tool that needs to be nurtured from a young age. Unfortunately, money isn’t always a popular dinner table topic for a lot of families. We need to change that. During my childhood, I was lucky enough to learn basic financial management principles from my grandfather. He taught me the importance of a dollar. His lessons laid the foundation for my understanding of money and the importance of building and protecting your financial health. However, I recognize not everyone has a mentor. In fact, many young people, particularly from underserved communities, experience the opposite; where parents and family members take out loans and credit cards in the child’s name and don’t always pay back the debt, setting their children back before their financial journey even begins. Oftentimes our earliest experiences with financial literacy start with seeing our parents’ struggles, but without the proper guidance and context, these lessons can come at a high cost. Entering their college years, young people are applying for and managing student loans, receiving preapproved credit card offers and taking out auto loans, among other forms of credit. Sometimes our younger selves can misinterpret access to credit and other financial resources with financial independence, and if we don’t pay back these loans, the consequences can be dire.
That’s where the financial services community can play a more transformative role. It’s not enough for banks and other financial institutions to offer products that cater to a younger demographic, there has to be a long-term commitment to engage them and make financial literacy more accessible and relevant. Everything boils down to access to information. For instance, Experian, the global data and technology company, and HomeFree-USA lead an initiative offering students from historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, an opportunity to participate in live learning sessions with credit experts, as well as self-paced modules. The effort culminates in a competition where participants present innovative business ideas to further financial literacy in our communities. It’s a program that doesn’t just focus on helping a select group of students absorb financial knowledge and build their financial health, rather it centers on closing the resource gap across the spectrum. So, many of the students take the lessons they learn and share them with their peers and communities. It’s a one plus one equals three approach. Effective financial literacy programming requires a commitment to investing in change. But that doesn’t always mean a financial investment. Every community is different. Different in their struggles, different in their relationships with money and different in their perceptions of the mainstream financial system. Investing the time to engage community leaders, including faith-based organizations and nonprofits, empowers the financial services community to better understand their customers’ situations and create resources that are relevant to them. A willingness to listen and learn from the people they’re trying to reach helps foster trust and demonstrates a genuine commitment to financial empowerment. The journey to financial empowerment goes through financial literacy, and it requires an earnest effort to engage people, particularly at a young age. Financial literacy cannot be a check-the-box exercise. By starting financial education at a young age and maintaining a focus on long-term support, we can help the next generation navigate the complexities of the financial world with confidence and resilience. It is time for banks and businesses to step up and be part of this vital mission.
AI mental health chatbots are integrating neuroscience, emotional resilience training and evidence-based psychological frameworks to offer mental health support, but outcomes remain elusive with flawed advice and lack of transparency
An increasing number of Americans are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for emotional support, not as a novelty, but as a lifeline. These stats paint a hopeful picture: AI stepping in where traditional mental health care can’t. Blissbot.ai blends neuroscience, emotional resilience training and AI to deliver “scalable healing systems.” Blissbot was designed from scratch as an AI-native platform, a contrast to existing tools that retrofit mental health models into general-purpose assistants. Other companies, like Wysa, Woebot Health and Innerworld, are also integrating evidence-based psychological frameworks into their platforms. Despite the flurry of innovation, mental health experts caution that much of the AI being deployed today still isn’t as effective as claimed. “Many AI mental health tools create the illusion of support,” said Funso Richard, an information security expert with a background in psychology. “But if they aren’t adaptive, clinically grounded and offer context-aware support, they risk leaving users worse off — especially in moments of real vulnerability.” Even when AI platforms show promise, Richard cautioned that outcomes remain elusive, noting that AI’s perceived authority could mislead vulnerable users into trusting flawed advice, especially when platforms aren’t transparent about their limitations or aren’t overseen by licensed professionals. Used thoughtfully, AI tools can help free up clinicians to focus on deeper, more complex care by handling structured, day-to-day support — a hybrid model that many in the field see as both scalable and safe.
EU pushes for transition to quantum-safe encryption by 2030 amid urgent cybersecurity risks with risk assessments and awareness campaigns to kickstart in 2026
The European Union has called on member states to transition to quantum-safe encryption by 2030, citing urgent cybersecurity risks posed by future quantum computers. The push comes amid growing concern about the long-term viability of conventional encryption techniques. The EU plan promotes Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for most sectors and explores Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for high-security applications, outlining a phased roadmap that begins in 2026 with risk assessments and awareness campaigns. These newer algorithms are more complex and require different computational strategies than those used in today’s standards like RSA and ECC. The EU plan emphasizes the need for what it calls “cryptographic agility”—the ability to switch encryption algorithms as threats evolve and standards mature. the NIS group has laid out a multi-phase roadmap that begins with risk analysis and education campaigns, moves toward certification programs and pilot projects, and ultimately aims to establish interchangeable encryption systems. These systems would allow institutions to adapt more easily as new cryptographic techniques are developed and vetted. Germany’s VDE, a major electrical engineering and IT association, is advocating for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Unlike PQC, which uses mathematical algorithms, QKD takes advantage of the laws of quantum physics to allow two parties to share secret keys securely. The approach has attracted interest in sectors with high security demands, such as finance and government.