Financial leaders and executives from the banking and fintech sectors discussing AI technologies and their potential impacts
In the bustling city of Las Vegas, the Money20/20 conference recently witnessed an extensive discussion on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. This conversation was fuelled by the upcoming executive order from U.S. President Joe Biden, which aims to regulate the development of AI.
Michael Haney, Head of product strategy at Galileo Financial Technologies, highlighted the potential of AI in training virtual assistants to enhance their efficiency and productivity. Similarly, Zac Maufe, Global head of regulated industries at Google Cloud, sees AI as a tool to accelerate and streamline financial processes.
However, the incumbents seem to hold an advantage in this AI shift, according to Mark Goldberg, Partner at Index Ventures. This contrasts with previous technological changes where newcomers often disrupted the established order.
Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, CEO of Betterment, underscored the importance of ensuring AI tools receive diverse and representative data. This is crucial to serve everyone in the ecosystem, she emphasised. Moreover, Levy highlighted the need for AI tools that cater to the unique investing habits of the growing number of women, given the shift in wealth from baby boomers to this demographic in the next seven years.
The ethical use of AI was also a topic of discussion. Rejeesh Ramachandran, Senior vice president and head of strategic business architecture and customer insights at TD, expressed his intention to build their own generative AI model and train it using non-copyrighted data. Ramachandran also pointed out the issue of not knowing whose code is being used when interacting with AI models like ChatGPT, and suggested that conscious entities should avoid using someone else's work without proper licensing rights.
The executive order, signed by President Biden on March 1, 2023, establishes new standards for AI safety and security, aims to protect Americans' privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers and workers, promote innovation and competition, and more.
Sophia Bantanidis, an analyst at Citi Global Insights, discussed the challenges faced by financial institutions in fully embracing AI due to the highly regulated nature of the industry. Andrew Reiskind, Chief data officer at Mastercard, mentioned that the company has been leveraging AI for over 10 years, primarily for fighting fraud, and is now moving into analytics for better client insights.
Hester Peirce, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, advocated for reducing friction in financial processes through AI technology. Malcolm deMayo, Global vice president of financial services for Nvidia, mentioned that most financial services practitioners believe they haven't invested fast enough in being ready to take advantage of generative AI.
As the financial sector continues to explore the use cases for AI and machine learning technology, the upcoming executive order is expected to provide a framework for responsible and ethical AI development, paving the way for a more efficient and inclusive financial future.
