Political economist Will Hutton said that soon automated ‘Alexa-style’ [a voice-activated intelligent personal assistant] financial advisers could be commonplace in households and artificial intelligence software could carry out risk and credit assessments, as well as banking transactions, for finance firms rather than human staff.
Meanwhile, David Kelnar of venture capital firm MMC Investments said that the type of staff firms will need will change drastically, creating an ‘arms race’ for highly-skilled data analysis staff, who will become more sought after than frontline workers. ‘The kinds of people that companies hire and the way that organisations structure themselves, I think will change significantly,’ he said. ‘The most practical impact of that will be the growth and adoption of data scientists. There’s going to be an arms race and a shift in skills.’
Mr Kelnar said that if firms did not adopt AI technology to bolster their business, they should consider who would be the ‘Netflix to their Blockbuster’ – in other words who might put them out of business. ‘During the next five years, companies which are using AI will start to develop a meaningful competitive advantage. The time to act is now.’
Speaking via Skype at a conference hosted by Digital Jersey, Mr Hutton, a principal at Hertford College, Oxford, said that finance would be one of the most affected industries by artificial intelligence.
‘The finance sector, above any other sector almost, will be at the cutting edge of the data revolution because it holds more personalised data about its customers and has more complex oversight than anybody else,’ he said. ‘Its capacity to use it constructively, in assessing risk, in assessing credit and assessing with who it wants to do business, is going to become a key driver of successful performance.’
He added: ‘My own view about AI is it is here to stay. It is likely to do two things in financial services – all transactions and relationships are going to go to a thinking machine.
‘I could see most homes having their own personalised Alexa-type financial adviser, who alerts them to what’s happening with their financial affairs and provides individualised advice. Such a device is almost with us. I also think AI is going to help us develop much better risk assessments.’
Clara Durodié, chief executive of AI consultancy firm Cognitive Finance, warned that businesses which do not develop their use of artificial intelligence risk falling behind more forward-thinking competitors and could put jobs at risk. She warned how one company she worked with fell behind its competitors and was bought out, because it did not keep pace with technological advancements.
‘When you are on a board of directors which has so many employees, with families, and you are not open to understand what this kind of technology can do for you, that is a problem because you are putting everybody at risk,’ she said.
She added that in small communities, staff redundancies can create ‘profound changes’.
