TD Bank puts some wood behind the arrow with AI purchase

TD Bank, Canada's second largest bank has made a bold move into AI, purchasing Layer 6, a Toronto headquartered AI startup for an undisclosed price. In what would be an anomaly for the startup market, according to a report in the Wall St Journal, Layer 6 had up until the sale taken no venture money, with founders bootstrapping the business from day 1. Like many trending areas, AI has been a hotspot for conversations at the C-Suite level, but a sore spot when it actually comes to real investments. According to research, advisory, and consulting firm Celent, the vast majority of AI initiatives are still in the planning and consideration phase. Banks surveyed in their Understanding the Investment into AI in Banking, 2017 only showed deployments of AI technology in fraud, risk and natural language processing areas.