Artificial intelligence – friend or foe?

While Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have brought nearer a future in which we will see artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more mainstream, it’s important to remember that AI isn’t new. Rather, AI is maturing and becoming more personal. Innovations in AI will blur the lines between using a tool and interacting with a service provider, equipping customers with seamless services. Just as the futuristic idea of a driverless car is becoming a reality, so AI has the potential to improve our experiences across all industries.

In banking, Nationwide is looking to use AI to optimise human interactions – not replace them. AI has been harnessed to help banking staff make decisions more quickly and accurately, providing customers with advice they may otherwise have had to wait for. As such, artificial intelligence has bridged the gap between customers and trained staff experts who may have limited availability.

Another example is HSBC’s proposed robo-advisor, Online Investment Advice**. Built with customers who have moderate incomes in mind, it will allow customers to provide information on their financial situation and their needs, and give customers the best possible investment options available to suit them.

Looking ahead to other applications, AI could further be exploited to improve the customer experience, including using emotional cognitive intelligence where a ‘bot’ could read a person’s face to see that they have a quizzical look and need help, and then provide proactive solutions based on customer interaction. Another future use-case is as part of Social Robotics, which could be used in branches to provide data on how much time a customer spends looking at a poster, which area of the poster their eyes concentrated on, and even their expressions as they did so. All this information can be used to offer banking staff suggestions on products that may assist that specific customer.

One of the key challenges facing AI is the cultural shift required. Just as previous generations experienced the transition to telebanking and online banking, the integration of AI into financial services and institutions will require a similar shift in mainstream thinking. How smoothly the next transition evolves will depend largely on the decisions and measures market leaders make now.

Humanisation of technology

While artificial intelligence offers tangible benefits in data protection and customer retention, the effect on, and acceptance of AI by banking staff and customers cannot be overlooked.

Education will be key to the adoption of the powerful tool AI has the potential to be. While mindful of the business need to expand and adapt quickly, the transition must be made with sensitivity, transparency and honesty, which will allow the reasons and value of implementing AI to become clear to all.

Ultimately, financial services customers are human, and the services offered should not just be a process to be followed, but involve people as well. Adding AI to the equation should result in better-equipped staff and more satisfied customers, not in a robotic interface devoid of human empathy.

As AI expands into banking, the propensity for transformation increases, paving the way for new opportunities and better services within the industry. 

Disclaimer. This is part of a longer piece on next generation banking that was originally published on the "accelerate into digital". The full piece can be found here - https://accelerateintodigital.com/white_paper/technology-shaping-next-generation-banking/