AI trends in Financial Services

Dan Schutzer (photo left), a senior technology consultant at the Financial Services Roundtable's BITS technology division defined artificial intelligence as'the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.' According to Schutzer, efforts in the 1990s to build artificial intelligence-like systems for use in financial services has resulted in'disillusionment as realization set in that these systems were harder and more costly to build and maintain than first anticipated.' Fast forward to 2015 when advances in high performance computing, algorithmic theory and cloud computing are bringing us closer to true AI capabilities for commercial use by the financial industry. Patrick Tucker, author of The Naked Future: What Happens In a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?, wrote that "When the cost of collecting information on virtually every interaction falls to zero, the insights that we gain from our activity, in the context of the activity of others, will fundamentally change the way we relate to one another, to institutions, and with the future itself." "One of the first things to note about AI is its ability to process enormous amounts of data very quickly and far more data than it's ever been processed in the past by humans or computer programs. That is going to enable banks to improve the services they provide to customers, including better, more targeted advice," said Astrid Raetze (photo right), a partner at Baker & McKenzie.