These terms--just now coming into the banking vernacular--can be confusing, especially since they are all subsets of the equally dense term artificial intelligence or AI. It behooves bankers to make the effort to get a handle on what they mean, how they are interrelated, and, most important, what potential they offer to improve customer relationships, reduce fraud, beef up operational efficiency, reduce costs, and, ultimately, add to revenues. Through a number of interviews with Banking Exchange, bankers, analysts, and a prominent futurist paint a picture of what AI and its various subsets will mean to the banking industry. "AI is making it possible for customers to engage with companies in more ways than ever before through voice, gesture recognition, video, and chat, while opening up possibilities to serve customers beyond their own digital properties," says Brad Stewart, senior vice-president, head of product, AI Enterprise Solutions, at Wells Fargo. "We think these will continue to get even more sophisticated. Projects range from systems that can spot payments fraud or misconduct by employees, to technology that can make more personal recommendations on financial products to clients."

Artificial Intelligence is already impacting every industry through automation and machine learning, bringing concerns that AI is on the fast track to replacing many jobs. But these fears aren't new, says Dan Jackson, director of Enterprise Technology at Crestron, a company that designs workplace technology. "I'd argue this is no different than when we moved from an agricultural to an industrial economy at the turn of the last century. The percentage of people working in agriculture significantly decreased, and it was a big shift, but we still have plenty of jobs 100 years later," he says. Anytime society experiences a major technological advancement, we need to be prepared for it to change the way we live and work.

Artificial Intelligence is already impacting every industry through automation and machine learning, bringing concerns that AI is on the fast track to replacing many jobs. But these fears aren't new, says Dan Jackson, director of Enterprise Technology at Crestron, a company that designs workplace technology. "I'd argue this is no different than when we moved from an agricultural to an industrial economy at the turn of the last century. The percentage of people working in agriculture significantly decreased, and it was a big shift, but we still have plenty of jobs 100 years later," he says. Anytime society experiences a major technological advancement, we need to be prepared for it to change the way we live and work.