For best-in-class artificial intelligence solutions to actually earn that designation, Sindhu Joseph warns that the tools can't be used as "set it and forget it." Joseph, the co-founder and CEO of CogniCor, a California-based developer of an AI-powered business automation platform, reminded those attending her panel on day two of the inaugural Future Proof festival of the massive failure that was Microsoft's Tay. In spring 2016, the AI chatbot, named as an acronym for "thinking about you," was launched and pulled within a day of operation. Its machine-learning capabilities had caused it to spew racist, misogynistic and anti-semitic statements across Twitter, in a spectacular public display of garbage in, garbage out. Just "letting the machine run" without proper human guidance or care is a huge pitfall, said Joseph, who holds a PhD in artificial intelligence and is the inventor of six patents related to the technology. "There's a lot of applications where that works really well.

Advisors are using artificial intelligence to expand access to wealth management insights. Traditional financial plans often required multiple meetings between advisors and clients with frameworks left to stagnate outside the meetings, but the inclusion of AI has allowed that conversation to become continuous, Sam Palmer, managing director and head of strategy, digital wealth planning & advice for JPMorgan Wealth Management, said during a panel discussion at Financial Planning's INVEST conference in June. "What has started with clients having to interact with an advisor, even to be able to trade stocks moving over through access to digital tools and automation, is [now] more tools in the hands of consumers for financial planning and financial health," Palmer said. "We are able now to have continuous monitoring as an individual [and] as a consumer of my cash flow." This eliminates the need for simple one-off conversations with an advisor.