Trust and Transactions: How Mastercard Is Doing AI Differently

What happens when AI isn’t just an add-on or a nice-to-have, but becomes part of the backbone of global commerce? And how can agentic AI be implemented successfully in an ecosystem that’s historically treated bots as malicious or fraudulent actors?

On this episode of Where AI Works, host Peter Cappelli sits down with Greg Ulrich, the Chief AI and Data Officer at Mastercard, to explore how one of the world’s leading payment technology companies is embedding AI across its enterprise. From internal copilots and onboarding tools to its groundbreaking “Agent Pay” initiative, the company’s goal is to both improve productivity and to create secure, trusted systems that allow AI agents to carry out transactions on behalf of consumers and businesses alike. Their conversation also goes beyond the technology to highlight the leadership, cultural, and organizational shifts required to scale AI in such a highly regulated industry, and why cross-enterprise collaboration is as critical as the algorithms themselves. 

Episode Highlights:

5:44 - Greg lays out how online shopping and search are being augmented with agentic AI to give customers greater flexibility without compromising security.

11:04 - Greg explains how Mastercard separates legitimate transactions from fraudulent ones, and the increasing role of AI in making that determination.

16:45 - Greg discusses the variety of agentic systems working within Mastercard and how they work together to provide a seamless experience for the end-user.