Artificial intelligence might feel like a buzzword at present, with almost every corner of the internet talking about AI and what it could do for us in the future. The release of ChatGPT was revolutionary, with ChatGPT-3 acquiring over 100 million monthly users just two months after it launched.
This product was centred around providing users with answers to queries in a human-like manner and offered the chance to create well-written text from a simple prompt. This had a major impact in the media sector, and has also allowed for faster, improved research for the most part.
However, this model is just the start, and AI is starting to infiltrate numerous sectors, including general banking and personal loans.
You may be wondering how exactly AI could influence the financial sector, and in this article, we will look at some of the key areas that this advanced technology will assist.
Considering language models alone, this type of AI could offer the following:
1. Personalised Customer Service and Support
- AI can analyse vast amounts of customer data to understand preferences and needs, enabling personalised interactions.
- Through real-time responses to queries and concerns, banks can offer tailored assistance to users, improving overall customer satisfaction.
- Customised financial advice, targeted product recommendations, proactive fraud detection, and short support wait times are all made possible through AI-powered systems.
2. Automation of Routine Tasks
- AI can automate mundane tasks such as account balance inquiries and password resets, freeing up human resources for more complex issues.
- This automation increases efficiency and reduces costs for banks while providing faster and more accurate customer support, available 24/7.
3. Conversational Banking Experience:
- Integrating AI models with banking applications allows for a seamless conversational banking experience.
- Users can make transactions, view account information, and receive alerts through chat or voice interfaces in multiple languages, simplifying the user experience.
These sophisticated chatbots could also allow for numerous other tasks, allowing clients to feel more in control of their accounts at any time of the day or night. As pointed out in an article by Forbes, there are a lot more areas that AI-driven customer service could be a game changer:
- Account Inquiries: Chatbots can provide users with real-time updates on their account balances, transaction history, and other account-related information.
- Money Transfers: Users can potentially initiate fund transfers to other accounts or merchants directly through a chatbot interface.
- Loan Applications: Chatbots can assist users in the online loan application process, providing guidance and answering queries. These chatbots could guide users through the entire application process, while also assisting financial institutions in properly assessing applications quickly and efficiently – allowing their staff to focus on applications that have passed the initial checks. An AI-powered workforce can follow on services with clients by helping users check their credit scores before or after applications, as well as offer advice on improving them.
- Financial Advice: Banks can train chatbots to offer investment information and assist users in making informed decisions.
- Fraud Prevention: AI can be utilised to monitor user transactions and detect unusual activity, aiding in fraud prevention efforts.
- General Customer Service: Chatbots can provide rapid and effective customer support by addressing common questions and resolving simple issues.
- Account Management: AI models can assist users in managing their accounts, and facilitating tasks such as arranging automatic payments or updating personal information.
- Insurance Claims: Chatbots can guide users through the process of submitting insurance claims and provide relevant information.
- Financial Planning: AI-powered chatbots can assist users with budgeting, setting financial goals, and planning for their future.
Despite all of these seemingly excellent options, there are a number of important considerations for banks and financial institutions to consider:
- Security and Privacy: Banks must ensure the security and privacy of customer data within AI-powered systems, guarding against unauthorised access or disclosure.
- Training AI Models: Training AI models to understand banking-specific language and terminology requires relevant data and integration with existing systems to provide accurate responses.
- Customer Trust: Banks need to educate customers about the benefits of AI-powered interfaces and ensure ease of use to encourage adoption.
Asking AI itself what it feels will be the future of banking and finance, its answers suggest that along with all of the above, it will be able to offer strong predictive financial insights, anticipatory financial guidance, automated wealth management and be able to provide banks with data-driven decision-making solutions.
As far-fetched as it may seem, AI could certainly play a role in the banking industry in years to come. It may take some time to create a model that is stable and reliable, while some clients also may take significantly longer to adopt the new technology, but the benefits to banking as a whole could be significantly impactful.
