PayPal is officially entering the land of AI

PayPal announced on January 25 that it will launch multiple artificial intelligence (AI)-powered products aimed at end users and merchants.

In an interview with Reuters, PayPal Chairman and CEO Alex Chriss said:

“The data that we have and the ability to actually see what people have bought and know what sellers are trying to target, that's where I think AI is a big opportunity for us.”

PayPal announced a feature called CashPass – which will use personalized cashback offers for users based on AI analysis of their spending activity.

CashPass will be available starting in March. It will initially launch with participation from major companies including Best Buy, eBay, McDonald's, Priceline, Ticketmaster, Uber and Walmart. Users can earn greater rewards by combining this feature with Cashback Mastercard and PayPal savings accounts.

Other AI features target merchants

Additionally, PayPal is introducing a feature called Smart Receipts. This will use AI to recommend purchases to users, thereby encouraging users to return to the merchants they have purchased from. PayPal says sellers will be able to make personalized recommendations and offer cashback rewards.

PayPal also announced its enhanced offers platform, an AI-powered advertising engine that will process approximately $500 billion in merchant transactions globally. This will allow merchants to pay only for performance rather than impressions or clicks, PayPal said, while also providing end users with “more relevant incentives and more opportunities to earn shares.” more rewarding".

The payments company also announced a new one-click checkout feature called Fastlane, updates to Venmo Business Profiles, and password-based logins (e.g. face or fingerprint). It did not say whether AI was used in these three features.

PayPal shares rise less than 2%

Reaction to this news was poor. Although PayPal (PYPL) stock price rose 1.76% in 24 hours, news outlets including CNBC and Barron's noted a decline in the stock price near the time of publication.
PayPal has previously embraced other technology trends, most notably cryptocurrency and blockchain. The company introduced its own stablecoin in August 2023. The giant also introduced cryptocurrency features in the United States starting in 2021 and is expected to reintroduce those services in England this year.