Unleashing Unbounded Possibilities with AI

Imagine, if you will, the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an orchestra, playing a symphony of transformation across industries. One of the sections where the melody is particularly vibrant is in finance. However, like an unfinished masterpiece, the sonata of AI in finance still awaits its climactic movement.

The stumbling block preventing AI from reaching its crescendo lies in its struggle with complex math and technical reasoning. It’s like asking a novice violinist to perform a Paganini Caprice. The notes are tough, the pace is fast, and the technical virtuosity required is daunting. However, as we’ve seen in the history of music, and indeed, in AI, practice makes perfect. With leaps in machine learning, we can expect our AI violinist to master its Paganini in due time. And real impact will start being seen beyond using AI in finance for simple tasks. (I know we have to start somewhere but let us not get stuck there forever).

Presently, the score of AI in finance focuses heavily on the customer service movement, using chat bots to serve customers, perform targeted marketing, transaction facilitation and reduce the repetitive work of bank staff. It’s akin to the orchestra focusing solely on the strings section, while the brass, woodwinds, and percussion remain silent. While the melodic tunes of customer service are charming, the symphony lacks the harmonious blend of all instruments playing in concert.

What should be the next thing in finance that AI should expand into? If AI expanded its melody to financial literacy education. It would be like adding a soothing flute solo that guides listeners through the symphony’s narrative. With AI as a financial maestro, concepts like compound interest and investment risk could be as easy to grasp as humming a catchy tune. Imagine AI as your personal finance tutor, turning the convoluted tax code into a straightforward lullaby. This is the lowest hanging fruit I can think of and the most logical for me. The financial industry can only benefit from more literate customers who can utilise the breath of their offerings and even challenge them to build more. For this financial service providers must make literacy more of priority and less of a after sale service.

This will also help the industry deal with those bad players that a known for predatory lending, the finance sector’s equivalent of cacophony. AI can tune it out, acting as the vigilant conductor who ensures harmony and protects the symphony from discordant notes. AI can be used as a financial assistance to quickly identify deceptive tactics from lenders and warn people from engaging. It can also notice high risk patterns and help users break away from such risky patterns. For the lenders the AI can act to enforce safe lending products.

Money laundering and fraud could be become a thing of the past with AI being used. These complex schemes that take months or years to uncover can easily be detected as they start by AI and flagged for investigation, stopping them before they ruin lives and economies. Given enough research into AI advancements can be made where the improvement in math and complex reasoning will not only allow AI to respond to attempts of money laundering and fraud but preemptively put in blockers to stop such activities.

Now for the Utopian part of this orchestra, the part we should always be dreaming about (day or night). AI constructing intricate economic models akin to a composer creating a symphony. Every note, every beat, every tempo change can dramatically alter the music’s feel, just like subtle changes in economic policy can shift the landscape. AI could simulate these economic symphonies, giving policymakers a rehearsal room where they can tweak and perfect their composition before the grand performance on the stage of realworld economy.

Possibilities for AI to contribute to economic modeling, is not too farfetched, the sophistication seen in game development, where multiple scenarios are played out to determine outcomes, games are built with large economic models behind them ensuring that there is balance and that the game economy can keep running and can also be hardened from exploitation.

This could be applied to financial systems. AI could simulate complex economic models to test the impact of different financial policies and practices on a nation’s economy. This could help policymakers make more informed decisions. We have already seen Greece in the past hire Yanis Varoufakis who worked in the gaming industry at Value (where he was responsible for building complex game economies) as their finance minister. What would AI and game sandboxes do to designing and testing economic models?

Lastly, think of regulatory sandboxes as practice rooms for musicians where they can freely experiment with notes and rhythms without disrupting a concert. AI, acting as the diligent room supervisor, ensures every musician – or in this case, every new policy or innovation – is tuned perfectly and ready for the main concert, minimising any chance of hitting a wrong note in the grand performance.

In conclusion, the symphony of AI in finance can extend beyond a single movement of customer service. It can educate the masses, compose harmonious policies, fight against discordant practices, and even prepare the stage for innovative masterpieces. So let’s raise the curtain, tune our instruments, and let AI unleash its full melody in the grand concert hall of finance. This might be the symphony we’ve all been waiting to hear.