Mastercard has announced the launch of a "Virtual C-Suite", a team of AI-based virtual executives aimed at small and medium-sized companies.
An executive committee in AI
The Virtual C-Suite offers specialised AI agents embodying different executive roles: chief financial officer, head of security, marketing director. The first module available is the Virtual CFO, which plugs into existing accounting tools.
Features on offer:
- Dashboards you talk to in plain language
- Recommendations on payments and working capital management
- Predictive analysis of financial trends
The system draws on data from 175 billion Mastercard transactions in 2025.
Why SMEs are the ideal target
SMEs make up 90% of companies worldwide but generally cannot afford to hire specialised executives. Mark Barnett (Mastercard) says: "SME leaders lose their passion when they are buried under spreadsheets."
The question nobody asks
Mastercard is both the supplier of the analysis tool and a major player in the payments sector. Do the recommendations genuinely reflect the interests of the business owner?
The "human in the middle" principle is essential: AI has to stay an aid to the decision, not an autonomous decider. AI is climbing to board level. Leaders with no grasp of AI risk approving recommendations they do not understand.
Source: AI Magazine.