Some 96 percent of industry participants see value in co-developing artificial intelligence (Al) with other firms and partners, according to a Broadridge Financial Solutions survey.
The survey, whose 197 participants included asset managers, banks, broker-dealers, and consultancies, highlighted the progress and challenges associated with AI.
This also included machine learning (ML) and robotics automation (RPA) across the capital markets industry.
According to the survey, 80 percent of participants were at least assessing the value of Al, ML or RPA, but only 22 percent of these platforms were currently in production.
The survey also found that 15 percent of firms said they were in the process of a pilot, 24 percent were working through proof of concept, 19 percent were having an assessment, 11 percent had no plan, and 9 percent were unsure.
In terms of challenges, data and business justification were the top challenges to Al deployment. This was followed by availability of data and cost of implementation.
The survey also found that one-third of respondents asked predicted that Al will reduce human labour by less than 10 percent.
When asked which movie best represents the future of Al, 46 percent of participants voted Transformers, saying that it would be a mix of good and bad, while 36 percent voted for Star Wars likening AI to friendly tools.
Some 18 percent of respondents said that Al was like dangerous misaligned intelligence and deemed The Terminator to be the best representative of the future of AI.
Vinit Sahni, co-CEO, of Arkera, commented: “This [survey] shows the financial services sector is waking up to the potentially transformative impact of AI. However, those taking advantage of the technology today remain in the minority.”
Sahni added: “One of the reasons for this is that AI still requires a level of manual intervention that is inhibiting rapid deployment. However, companies like ours continue to refine and improve our tools.”.
“Institutions need to work closely with partners with the expertise to scale AI. By sharing innovation and the associated costs, there is an exciting opportunity for those with the financial domain and technology expertise that aren’t restricted by legacy infrastructure to get well ahead of the competition.”
Concluding, Sahni said: “AI, like all new technologies, will naturally lead to some job replacement but it will also create innovative new job opportunities. Furthermore, for those people in financial services whose primary currency is their relationships (such as sales), AI won’t replace their jobs; rather, it will help them deliver better services faster and will enhance their engagement with their clients."
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