Final Frontier

Final frontier Fintech companies should adapt AI with caution.

- Ranjan Mukerjee

In April 2016, during a Facebook earnings call, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to an investor’s query regarding the introduction of chat bots to its Messenger service. His response was, “...the biggest thing that we’re focused on with artificial intelligence is building computer services that have better perception than people.”1 The idea of having computers with a better sense of perception than human beings may seem like a far-fetched science-fiction dream, but in reality, we are possibly less than a decade away from achieving it. That is how far artificial intelligence (AI) technology has advanced behind the scenes, and why every industry and business sector is investing heavily in its research and development. While better AI will eventually transform almost every industry, fintech is at the forefront of being impacted by the revolution.

Go big or go home

The key reason why AI is seen as a natural match for the fintech sector can be summed up in two words: big data. The rapid growth of fintech over the past decade has been possible due to a better understanding and use of big data. As it turns out, big data is also the catalyst for machine learning, one of the most important aspects of the future of AI. In order for fintech companies and services to perform better, they need to sift through and analyse massive amounts of data, which will then guide their future strategies. As the data sets become increasingly large and complex, contemporary programmes and algorithms will no longer be effective in making use of all the data available. This is where AI steps into the picture.