AI can be crucial in the evolution of the banking and financial market, as long as we bear in mind the central role of human creativity in the decision-making process.
By Gianluca Berghella
We truly are in the midst of an era of great transformational significance. As it has already happened before, the wave of innovation is affecting almost every aspect of our culture, society and the environment.
As of now, the digital exponential growth has made possible the development of automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The enormous data gathering and processing power, makes it possible to reduce barriers and increase the ability to solve a wide variety of problems, even highly complex ones.
Artificial intelligence has already revolutionised several sectors thanks to an increasing computing capability, large amounts of data available, and advanced machine learning techniques.
In the banking-finance sector this new technology has been implemented in different ways – from machine learning to more advanced AI solutions – by major banking and financial institutions to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs and improve the customer experience by making it more contextual.
Banking and financial advisory platforms are increasingly relying on AI algorithms to analyse individual financial history, investment objectives and investors’ propensity for risk. They profile, predict, monitor. The goal is to support the banker in what is now known as “mass customisation”, the large-scale creation of tailor-made proposals based on the actual needs and specific life circumstances of individuals.
The recent ChatGPT media boost of a very simple and intuitive conversational AI painted a clear picture of what this technology can do. ChatGPT is a language developed by OpenAI based on the Transformer neural network, one of the most promising AI technologies, and advanced machine learning algorithms, to generate human-like responses during a human-machine conversation.
But we must pay close attention to the current scenario. Technological innovations are commodities, and I am adamant they should always be seen as an extraordinary opportunity, not a threat. However, their strategic, distinctive and competitive factors draw from the PEOPLE’s skills and knowledge who are there to ensure that the innovation path is forward-looking and truly effective, without causing damage to society.
We should never lose sight of the distinction between man and machine. We have to bear in mind we are interacting with machines, so that we can restore the central role of our human creativity and critical spirit, which allows us to verify, adapt, contextualise responses and results returned by the algorithms, without wiping out the relationship and communication between people.These tools are very powerful, and can even be useful, but within a path traced by humans for human development. Made by Humans for Humans.
I will never stop repeating that humans are and will be solely responsible for the future of the world. The only ones able to guarantee that every use of artificial intelligence, every application, every learning process, every data processing is bound to an ethically founded, free, tolerant and fair society.
