Intelligent Fin.tech Issue 18 | Page 67

CHEQUING OUT

DEMYSTIFYING GENERATIVE AI IN FINANCE – HOW TO GET STARTED

Torben Anderson , Director of Engineering at Pleo , dives into the realm of Generative AI and untangles its common misconceptions , presenting its positive role in the finance industry .

We saw that 2023 was a big year for Artificial Intelligence , as everyday people were suddenly able to get hands-on with the technology . It ’ s fair to say that they were excited by what they saw , with ChatGPT , for example , racking up over 180 million monthly users and 100 million weekly active users , helping people do everything from writing wedding speeches , appealing insurance claims , planning workouts and more .

Despite this , we still don ’ t know what AI ’ s full capabilities are . But instead of treating this blind spot as something to worry about , we should approach it with curiosity . Because while there are things we should be aware of , these are nothing compared to the value we ’ ll ultimately get from it . Something that is especially true when it comes to finance .
Finance AI is worth our time
According to the CFO ’ s Playbook for 2024 , business decision makers aren ’ t convinced about a role for Generative AI in finance . Just 27 % agree that they are confident about the introduction of AI into their finance operations , while less than a third ( 29 %) agree that AI could play a role in reducing the time spent on admin off CFOs and finance teams and returning it to more high-level strategic tasks .
What ’ s confusing though is that the finance sector is no stranger to the value of AI – helping automate payments , deposits and transfers , enhance security and communicate with customers via chatbots . These activities have shown AI to be capable of streamlining the performance of finance teams , so why aren ’ t we jumping at the chance to implement its advanced cousin ? One reason could be the confidential nature of the sector . But finance leaders should know that this isn ’ t about handing customer details over to the machine . It ’ s about identifying where AI can outperform and assist humans and find the right home for it in your business . With this in mind , here are some steps to get started .
Don ’ t be too concerned
Bringing AI into your finance operations shouldn ’ t be something you sweat over for weeks . It ’ s helpful to be cautious , but not to the detriment of your business . A good rule is to treat it as though you were hiring a new person .
One of the key worries about Generative AI is the technology ’ s tendency to ‘ hallucinate ’, e . g . when it ’ s asked a question and returns an incorrect answer with perfect confidence . But this is really the crux of what makes the technology work . All it does is give you what it considers the most likely answer , with no way to tell you how confident it is in that answer as of yet . Not unlike if I give a colleague incorrect information , despite being sure it ’ s correct . However , there is a lot of research in this area , so we can expect it to become less of a worry in the future , plus there are already a lot of good techniques to mitigate risk . Ultimately , www . intelligentfin . tech
67