Leon Schumacher, from Digital Ekho, gave the opening talk at the AI & CB (Artificial Intelligence and Central Bank) online conference in December. For those new to AI, it provided a fast overview of what AI is and some of the issues connected to it.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) roared into the public consciousness in 2023. Its widespread use and, more importantly, its potential have become visible to all, not just the small specialist user community that has been working on it for years. Clearly, AI is of great interest to central banks from the policy makers through the cash issue department.

McKinsey have issued a white paper on what is happening with AI and Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT).

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, ‘big data’ and ChatGPT have now reached the public consciousness in a big way, hence headlines such as ‘Central Bank of Ireland blocks ChatGPT for staff as financial services firms grapple with AI’ and ‘China’s Central Bank Warns Against ChatGPT ‘Data Leaks’.

The media rejoices in either claiming the metaverse is dead in the water or that it is booming. Wherever it falls, payments are made in the metaverse, it is a global marketplace and there is the opportunity to do things differently.