I recently mentioned again how ALL the identity verification companies use the following two elements in their product marketing:
- “We use AI.”
- “Trust!”
If you read three marketing messages from three IDV vendors, I defy you to tell them apart. Admittedly my last comparison took place years ago, so I took a fresh look at the 2026 versions. Here are two:
“Industry-leading AI-driven Technology”
“We make it easy to safeguard your customers with AI-driven identity verification.”
Thankfully the companies are finally mentioning differentiators other than trust, but the magic letters AI still persist.
AI is everywhere and nowhere
But you can’t really blame the IDV vendors when everyone is injecting the two letter word in their messaging.
20 years ago, anyone who talked about an AI-powered vacuum cleaner would have been relegated to the back of the hall and told to put on his Vulcan ears.
Now we have things like AI pens.
“Handwrite only the critical points. Let Flowtica AI summarize and visualize the rest-audio, photo and even your sketches – into insights. Stay focused in the flow”
And lest you think that such efforts are fringe, Open AI and Jony Ive are reportedly working on one.
But AI pens make as much sense as AI influencers. If you have AI, why do you need the influencers? And if you have AI, why have a pen?
But that won’t stop people from hawking AI pens, and pencils, and erasers, and 3 hole punches, and maybe even…paperclips.
Bredemarket 