Credit Karma: Believe the hype for 'artificial narrow intelligence'

By giving away free credit scores to more than 60 million people, Credit Karma upended the paid credit report market. And by offering free tax returns this year -- at the same time H&R Block and IBM Watson were bragging about AI-powered tax filings -- the company stormed the $8.9 billion tax preparation industry. Bold disruptions like this matter, but Credit Karma's effort to quietly assemble the massive trove of information underpinning each of these moves may be even bolder. Credit Karma works like this: Members supply personal information (name, address, phone, social security number) to receive credit scores and, if desired, to be matched with the best credit card, personal loan, and auto loan offers, and to file their federal income taxes -- all for free. The company gets paid a commission by the credit card and loan issuers, and it vows it will never charge consumers.