It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is transforming the world of finance. During a panel at the Financial Markets Quality Conference, moderator Emily Wilkins, Washington Correspondent at CNBC, asked the experts how they’re using the new technology at their firm and what we can expect in years to come.
Daniel Marcu, Global Head of AI Engineering and Science at Goldman Sachs, said while AI has been around for years, the largest transition of late is away from domain-specific technology implemented in particular use cases and towards a new brand of AI that can impact many parts of a business. Instead of an application that could only do one thing, such as translation or data extraction, we now have technology that can do many. As a result, Goldman is taking an approach to training employees that is similar to the education system: There are several levels to AI efficiently, similar to graduating elementary school, then middle school, then high school, with different training for different skill sets.
Liam Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Optiver, also pointed to the importance of specialization and what that means for the future of the labor market. He said we’ll start to see more specialized individual models, such as those focused on mortgages, which creates more value for those with domain expertise. “I don’t think AI is going to put everyone out of work,” Smith said. “I think it’s going to help people be even better, and better faster.”
Teresa Heitsenrether, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at JPMorganChase, says that while the bank isn’t using generative AI extensively externally with customers yet, the people who provide wealth expertise are now able to synthesize information more efficiently and have more bandwidth to reach customers. It’s giving those experts more ability to do customized advice, she added.
The technology is moving quickly, and the key will be keeping up. “People are a limiting factor,” said Mike de Vere, Chief Executive Officer, Zest AI.