This year marked a turning point for us. Spencer went from concept to real-world testing through POC and pilot phases, and the insights from those customers have reshaped how we think about delivering value with AI.

What We’ve Proven

Through the pilots, Spencer has demonstrated strong, reliable capabilities: reading and extracting receipts, validating transactions, populating out-of-pocket expenses, and supporting a smooth mobile experience. These aren’t experiments anymore, they are working components that reduce friction and improve accuracy.

The Direction of AI Across the Industry

Across the market, AI is in the process of shifting from basic automation to intelligent, autonomous support. Over the past year, spend management platforms everywhere have focused on embedding AI into the core of their products — not just for receipt capture or categorization, but increasingly through AI agents that support policy enforcement, anomaly detection, predictive insights, real-time user guidance, early exception detection, and faster approval cycles without increasing risk. This move toward proactive, intelligent financial operations is shaping customer expectations and raising the bar for the entire industry. AI is increasingly becoming a core part of how modern finance operations run, and it aligns directly with the direction we’re taking with Spencer.

What’s Coming Next

The next phase takes Spencer from supportive to proactive. We’re giving businesses an assistant that can remind users, complete expense drafts automatically, detect patterns and suggest corrections, identify out-of-policy spend, provide guidance, and highlight exceptions early so finance teams can handle them quickly and confidently.

Building an Intelligent Financial Layer

We are embedding Spencer across the entire Cardlay ecosystem, from card controls and expenses to analytics, policy management, onboarding, and support. The aim is to create a seamless, intelligent financial layer that makes every part of the platform faster, clearer, and more intuitive. For banks and partners, this means differentiated offerings and shorter time to value. For end customers, it means workflows that feel effortless.

The Momentum Ahead

This year validated our approach. Spencer has shown us what’s possible, and now we’re expanding that intelligence across the platform to create the next generation of financial automation.