There are probably thousands of ways that artificial intelligence (AI) is currently impacting our lives. Some of the obvious ways include the use of our smartphones and targeted advertising across our social media accounts. However, AI is also being used in many other ways.
For instance, AI is currently being incorporated into supply chain management to help analyze and address risks within production lines. It is also being utilized in public health to assess where disease outbreaks are occurring and where they are likely to go next. The technology is also being used in policing to assess risks and where greater police presence may be a benefit.
Perhaps one of the least obvious places that AI is starting to play a prominent role is in our finances. It is hoped that the technology can help save money and increase efficiency within the financial system. Additionally, is it anticipated that AI will be able to make significant strides in helping with the investigation of financial fraud and enforcing regulatory compliance.
AI in Finance
Initially, when many people think of the use of artificial intelligence in finance, they have a bit of a pause. They want something that they can trust to be ethical. It feels strange for computer systems to play such an intimate role in the management of our money. However, tech in the finance world is no stranger, just look at credit cards, online banking, and the intensive online security systems that are associated with each of those.
AI can increase the speed of access and availability of funds, which are things many consumers are already coming to expect. Furthermore, it can actually help make personal finances more secure by detecting unusual activity in an account and flagging it at a faster rate than any single account manager could do. Online payment fraud is expected to continue to increase every year; AI is a powerful means for banking companies to combat it and keep finances safe.
In corporate finance, AI technology can work to help banks make better financial decisions. For example, it can be used to analyze the risk of certain loan types. AI can also help to automate certain tasks, which reduces repetitive jobs, increases efficiency, and ultimately can save companies a lot of money.
The Battle Against Fraud
But perhaps the biggest and most exciting thing that AI can do in the financial world is work to battle fraudulent activity and enforce certain lending regulations. The technology can use internal or external data for its analyses. For instance, in a fraud investigation, it might be using internal data from the company, but to enforce regulations, it might be looking outward at the data of other companies.
In fraud cases, AI is set to be a real game changer. It can take years for federal investigators to identify irregularities in financial information and mount a successful investigation. At current workloads, even finding a potential case of fraud and connecting the dots over years of accounting information can be nigh on impossible. However, AI can take a lot of the manual labor out of it by pouring over financial records and flagging irregularities for further human investigation. Ultimately, this can free up more time for people to work on the difficult task of building a case rather than identifying one in the first place. It is anticipated that more fraudulent activity will be caught and prosecuted.
AI is set to significantly help those who are seeking to stop bad actors. With all the changes in the management of finances and the avid increase in online account activity, it is easier than ever for fraudsters to have an impact. Technologies such as AI give regulators a tool that can help stop more of them before they do a great deal of damage. Additionally, it can help force more people to follow the rules in their account management.
Artificial intelligence has many, many uses in our daily lives whether we fully realize them or not. In the financial industry, AI is changing the game by increasing the security of our online account activity and management. Likewise, it is helping regulators make headway in identifying and prosecuting cases of fraud. There are many positives to using AI in finances.