NVIDIA data scientist Benika Hall turns fantasy sports into fraud detection

Benika Hall’s journey from fantasy sports enthusiast to senior data scientist at NVIDIA showcases how passion projects can evolve into professional expertise with real-world impact. Her story illustrates the increasing integration of AI in financial services and highlights how diverse backgrounds contribute to innovation in tech. Hall’s work in graph neural networks and knowledge graphs represents cutting-edge applications of AI that are transforming fraud detection and information retrieval in the financial industry.

The big picture: Hall’s career path demonstrates how specialized knowledge in AI can transfer across industries, from sports analytics to banking and technology.

• While pursuing graduate degrees in bioinformatics, Hall developed AI models for sports predictions that became the foundation for ProLytics, a successful fantasy sports company she cofounded in 2017.
• The skills she developed through her sports analytics work seamlessly transferred to her later roles in banking and ultimately at NVIDIA, where she now helps financial institutions implement AI solutions.

Key innovations: At NVIDIA, Hall works on advanced AI applications for the financial services sector, focusing on graph-based systems that enhance fraud detection and information retrieval.

• Her work on graph neural networks (GNNs) helps financial institutions identify suspicious patterns in transactions by aggregating information across accounts.
• Hall has recently focused on graph retrieval-augmented generation (GraphRAG) for financial knowledge graphs, improving contextual awareness in generative AI applications.
• Her published research has been integrated into the NVIDIA NeMo Retriever collection of AI microservices.

Industry impact: Hall serves as a bridge between NVIDIA’s technology capabilities and the practical needs of financial institutions.

• She helps banks implement AI solutions using NVIDIA platforms like NeMo, RAPIDS data science libraries, and Riva speech and translation AI.
• These technologies enable financial services companies to develop customer-facing virtual assistants, enhance productivity, and detect fraudulent transactions.

Why this matters: Hall’s role represents the increasing importance of domain specialists who can translate between technical expertise and business applications in the AI era.

• “AI is used in financial services more than people realize,” Hall notes, highlighting the often invisible but widespread adoption of AI in banking and finance.
• Her ability to communicate complex technical concepts makes her valuable both to NVIDIA and to financial institutions navigating their AI implementation journey.

Beyond technology: Hall prioritizes mentorship and representation in the tech industry, particularly for underrepresented groups.

• She frequently speaks to students interested in AI and machine learning, including at her undergraduate alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University.
• “My role at NVIDIA gives me a voice — and the opportunity to show others that they can do it too,” Hall said, emphasizing her commitment to creating pathways for others.