Why would a bank acquire an AI software company? Last week, TDBank announced the acquisition of Layer 6, an AI startup. The rapid emergence of finserv startups is putting pressure on established institutions, leveraging the speed, scale, and cost of an all-digital infrastructure. Most important, these startups are replacing human-intensive processes with a fully-automated data and analytics ecosystem that delivers the competitive products and on-demand services that millennials want.
In “The Second Machine Age,” Brynolfson and McAfee take note of a rapid ascent of AI capabilities thought, just a few years ago, decades away from reality: self-driving cars, music composition, victory on Jeopardy.
