News

Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI Reaches 1 Billion Active Users as AI Becomes Daily Habit
July 31, 2026

OpenAI’s models now reach more than 1 billion active users and more than 2 million businesses, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said in a Friday (July 31) blog post. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content...

Banking
Fed Moves to Give Mutual Banks More Flexibility to Raise Capital
July 31, 2026

The Federal Reserve is seeking comment on a proposal that it said would modernize rules for mutual banking organizations and increase their flexibility to raise capital. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content...

Banking
Former Synapse Partner Lineage Bank Agrees to FDIC Consent Order
July 31, 2026

Lineage Bank, which was a partner bank for Synapse, the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider that went bankrupt in 2024, has reached a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to...

Artificial Intelligence
Friend’s Talking Pendant Gives OpenAI’s Screenless Future a Voice
July 31, 2026

Screenless devices seem to be the next frontier in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware. There have been rumors that OpenAI’s first device might be a screenless speaker, but nothing concrete has come out. Bloomberg reported in July that the device OpenAI is developing with Jony Ive’s...

Cross-border Payments
Project Agorá Cuts Cross-Border Payment Times to 80 Seconds
July 31, 2026

Real-value testing (RVT) of tokenization of wholesale cross-border payments demonstrated an average time from payment initiation to settlement of about 80 seconds, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and...

Artificial Intelligence
LinkedIn’s Feed Is 41% Fake and the Cleanup Starts Now
July 31, 2026

Consumers are tired of scrolling past content they suspect was never written by a person, and on LinkedIn, that suspicion is often correct. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no...

Artificial Intelligence
Finance Teams Are Done Flying Blind on AI Costs
July 31, 2026

The era of “tokenmaxxing,” pushing employees toward the biggest artificial intelligence (AI) models and the heaviest usage as if consumption itself were a sign of progress, is ending after two years of unchecked growth. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and...

Banking
Chime Cuts 10% of Workforce in AI Pivot
July 31, 2026

Chime Financial plans to lay off about 150 people, or 10% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported Friday (July 31), citing a memo to employees from Chime CEO and Co-Founder Chris Britt. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited...

Artificial Intelligence
Amazon Completes $50 Billion Investment in OpenAI
July 31, 2026

Amazon completed a $50 billion investment in OpenAI that the two companies announced in February. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter,...