FICO Launches Credit Score Simulator

A new tool from analytics software firm FICO will allow consumers to see how future actions may impact their credit scores.

FICO announced on Wednesday (April 13) that its enhanced simulator will provide side-by-side comparisons that enable consumers to better understand how combinations of actions may effect FICO scores.

“Because FICO scores are used in more than 90 percent of U.S. lending decisions, consumers want to better understand how their actions might affect FICO scores,” Geoff Smith, VP of consumer scores at FICO, explained in a statement.

“The newly enhanced FICO Score Simulator enables consumers to run simulations using the actual FICO Score 8 formula, as well as data from all major credit bureaus. This is an extremely easy-to-use and valuable tool for anyone who wants to understand how their financial behavior could impact their FICO scores,” Smith continued.

FICO said the simulator will provide the opportunity for consumers to experiment with various “what if” situations in order to see how their FICO scores react. Simulations will be able to run on up to 24 different types of actions, including maxing out a line of credit, mortgage refinancing, paying down a credit card balance, increasing a credit account limit and missing a bill payment.

“Our mission is to empower consumers with tools and content that help them understand their financial health, including decisions that could impact FICO scores,” Smith added. “It is important for consumers to understand their FICO scores when they are looking for credit. The FICO Score Simulator is the only tool for consumers that provides simulations of actual FICO scores.”


Musk Pledges to Withdraw OpenAI Bid if Company Remains Nonprofit

Days after offering $97.4 billion for OpenAI’s nonprofit, Elon Musk is proposing a new deal.

“If [the] OpenAI board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” lawyers for the world’s richest man said in a court filing, per a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report.

Musk and a group of investors first floated the offer for the nonprofit that controls the artificial intelligence (AI) startup on Monday (Feb. 10), the latest in a series of moves to prevent the company from giving up its nonprofit status.

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement provided by his attorney. “We will make sure that happens.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly pushed back. “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Altman said in a post on X, referring to the Musk-owned social media platform by its former name.

The following day, Altman once again rejected the offer in an interview with Bloomberg Television, suggesting that Musk’s bid was born out of frustration related to xAI, his own artificial intelligence company.

“I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor,” said Altman. “I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this.”

As the WSJ notes, Musk’s bid has complicated Altman’s plans for the future of OpenAI, not just its switch to a for-profit operation, but also the $500 billion AI infrastructure project known as “Stargate,” a joint venture with Oracle and SoftBank.

Altman and Musk are engaged in a legal battle over the direction of OpenAI, which they helped found 10 years ago.

Last week, a judge ruled that the suit — initiated by Musk — would move to trial, with the possibility of Musk taking the stand.

“Something is going to trial in this case,” said U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, adding that Musk would “sit on the stand, present it to a jury, and a jury will decide who is right.”

OpenAI has argued that becoming a for-profit company will let it garner the types of investments it needs to develop the best AI models. The company has also said it would try to dismiss Musk’s claims, saying he “should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom.”

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