Ant International, a global provider of digital payments, digitisation, and FinTech services, has announced the launch of its latest innovation, AI SHIELD, designed to strengthen the security of artificial intelligence applications across the financial sector.
The company said the decision to introduce AI SHIELD stems from the growing risks around bias, vulnerabilities, and misuse in AI services. With AI now deeply embedded in financial workflows, Ant International stated that safeguarding these systems is vital to ensure secure, reliable, and compliant adoption of the technology.
Ant International operates at a significant scale, processing more than $1tn in global transactions in 2024, with AI underpinning its payment systems worldwide. The company supports more than 100m merchants and 1.8bn user accounts through a suite of services including Alipay+, the global wallet gateway, Antom for merchant payments, Bettr for embedded finance and credit technology, and WorldFirst for global account services.
AI SHIELD is built on a framework known as AI Security Docker. This toolkit addresses core risks such as unreliable decision-making, bias, and over-delegation in AI-powered systems. It provides safeguards for applications including fraud detection, payment authorisation, and chatbots, ensuring they remain safe, compliant, and reliable.
The product incorporates three protective layers: agent trustworthiness authentication to evaluate and monitor AI agents before launch, real-time safeguarding of AI services to block threats during operation, and dynamic patrolling with red teaming exercises to identify and address vulnerabilities. According to Ant International, this approach reduces AI service risks by as much as 90%.
The launch of AI SHIELD follows a wave of new solutions within Ant International’s portfolio. Earlier this year, it released Alipay+ EasySafePay 360, which it says can cut account takeover cases on digital wallet payments by 90%. Together, these offerings aim to provide full-cycle protection against risks such as scams, fraud, and deepfake attacks.
Ant International is also extending its AI security framework beyond its own ecosystem. It has partnered with AlipayHK and Malaysia’s TNG eWallet under the Digital Wallet Guardian Partnership, which seeks to strengthen security for wallet payments across borders. The company is further collaborating with Google and other industry leaders as a launch partner of the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), a set of rules for AI agent transactions.
Ant International general manager of risk management and cybersecurity Tianyi Zhang said, “Trusted AI could be a defining factor in unlocking the full potential of artificial intelligence in financial services. At Ant International, we are committed to working with industry partners to evolve the most advanced risk management framework for AI, while harnessing AI itself to strengthen our risk management capabilities. We believe a two-pronged approach is essential for driving responsible growth of FinAI.”
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