In 2026, Accounts Payable sits at the center of a rapidly escalating fraud battle where artificial intelligence is being used on both sides. Fraudsters are leveraging AI to launch more convincing, scalable, and targeted attacks, while organizations are increasingly deploying AI-powered tools to strengthen controls, detect anomalies, and stop fraudulent payments before they happen. For AP professionals, understanding both dynamics is now essential.

This session will examine how AI is reshaping the fraud landscape across the P2P cycle. Attendees will explore how bad actors are using generative and agentic AI to impersonate vendors, mimic communication patterns, clone websites, fabricate supporting documentation, and execute highly personalized Business Email Compromise schemes that can evade traditional review processes. The session will also highlight how deepfake voice, synthetic email, and emotionally intelligent fraud bots are undermining long-standing verification methods and enabling attacks that are faster, cheaper, and more difficult to detect.

We will also explore how AI is becoming one of the most effective tools in the defense against AP fraud. From intelligent vendor onboarding reviews and behavioral anomaly detection to risk scoring, payment pattern monitoring, and real-time alerts, AI is helping finance teams move from reactive investigation to proactive prevention. Attendees will learn how leading organizations are using AI to identify suspicious changes in vendor data, detect unusual invoice and payment activity, surface hidden patterns across transactions, and strengthen internal controls without slowing business operations.

AP professionals will leave with a stronger understanding of how to modernize fraud defenses, where human judgment remains essential, and what strategies are needed to protect financial integrity in an era where AI can both enable fraud and help stop it.