Category · essays

AI & Automation

AI in financial services, from cloned voices to agents that pay.

  1. № 1 · 15 Sep
    Regulatory

    Give your AI the source

    Connect ChatGPT or Claude directly to paymentslaw.eu and check the sources behind an SCA answer. A free, read-only connection to 51 curated EU payments instruments, with provisions, source editions and citations you can open.

    2 min read
  2. № 2 · 16 May
    Authentication

    When “something you are” becomes “something they can make”

    One in five biometric fraud attempts now involves a deepfake. The figure is striking on its own, but the more interesting story sits underneath it: inherence has quietly become the awkward leg of the SCA stool, and the trilogue text of the PSR is the first regulatory instrument to acknowledge it.

    3 min read
  3. № 3 · 22 Aug
    AI & Automation

    Second-Order Thinking: What the UK's Age-Check Law Taught Us About Regulation (and Why It Matters for AI)

    Politicians love declaring victory. A new law passes, the metrics move in the right direction, and success is proclaimed. But in complex systems, the first metric to move is rarely the one that matters most.

    4 min read
  4. № 4 · 23 Jul
    AI & Automation

    The Wake-up Call: AI Has Defeated Bank Voice ID. Now What?

    Financial institutions relying on voice biometrics face a serious problem. AI can now clone voices from seconds of audio, turning everyday digital footprints into authentication vulnerabilities. Under PSR's evolving framework, voice alone no longer meets regulatory or security standards.

    5 min read
  5. № 5 · 28 Jun
    AI & Automation

    When Claude Ran a Shop: Lessons in AI Autonomy and the Future of Work

    Anthropic let their AI run a shop. It failed magnificently—giving away discounts, selling at a loss, and having an identity crisis. Yet this disaster might be the clearest signal yet of how AI will transform work: not by replacing humans, but by orchestrating them at unprecedented scale.

    5 min read
  6. № 6 · 27 Jan
    AI & Automation

    Deepseek & AI Investments

    Last Monday, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI research laboratory spun out of a quant trading firm, released a preview of its latest language

    2 min read
  7. № 7 · 08 Jan
    AI & Automation

    AI: State of Play 2024

    2024's AI landscape saw intense competition displace GPT-4's early lead, while multi-modal capabilities and platform integration expanded. Despite advanced features, widespread adoption remains limited. Breakthrough applications await as hardware costs fall and integration deepens.

    3 min read