“AI is data… the gold mine is data… so treat it well,” according to Rui Rosado Gonçalves, partner, head of technology consulting, EMA advisory tech hub lead, at KPMG Portugal. He commented that “most banks don't have sufficient data quality, data governance or have not implemented data management systems sufficiently robust to ensure that data is available in an efficient way to build generative AI models.”
Gonçalves was speaking at a Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) conference on 11 June 2024.
AI may be more widespread at banks that you think
Yannick Huchard, CTO at the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, commented during the same panel that his bank must comply with several new regulations (Dora, EU AI Act) but also please customers and employees in a very rapidly and evolving landscape.
Huchard explained Bil’s employees wanted, early on, to use ChatGPT. To standardise the process, the bank decided to use Microsoft Co-pilot to ensure that “we could use AI in a safe manner.” For instance, the system enables IT employees to enhance capabilities to accelerate the workflow.
“Generative AI is not a challenge only for IT people… it is a challenge for everyone, every user,” stated , CIO at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. “You need to have the users understanding what Gen AI can bring to them.”
Consequently, Pulinckx explained that LuxSE provided a secured version of ChatGPT to every employee last year and told them: “ask any question… test it… suggest improvement… we already improved it three times.” Further, the firm followed up a with employee survey asking its people that are using it: “what do they like, what they would like to see improved.” LuxSE also asked non-users for their feedback and to specify roadblocks.
It takes two to tango
“IT has been spending a long time to learn business language. Today… it's important that businesspeople also understand IT languages,” said Pulinckx. He added: “we need to have a common ground of understanding; it's going to be the only way to get the best of what is coming up.”
Huchard noted that Bil’s strategy for deploying AI includes the training of employees on “not only about what you can do with [AI but also] what you shouldn’t do with AI.” He explained that the compliance with internal guidelines is key to protect data as AI may impact cybersecurity.
“Two answers to the same question”
“Generative AI is already a commodity” said Pulinckx, referring to the view of his son. He thinks that Gen AI is “already widespread… and dead” for the young generation. He noted that most of the models are nowadays specialised. For instance, he believes that robot advisor technologies at banks respond their clients’ investment needs.
Pulinckx pushed the envelope even further by suggesting that you may also see AI systems creating investment products addressing the specific needs of banks’ clients.
I feel I know you
Beyond “conventional capabilities,” Pulinckx thinks that we may move to an era of “emotional capabilities.” He noted that some apps have already transformed your mobile into a digital friend that you can talk to and that “will reply with a little bit of empathy.” He observed that some features are also trained to “recognise the emotion of people.”
Therefore, Pulinckx is expecting that these technologies may be used to improve customer experience and more generally “impact the connection with people.”
“AI will give you the best possible answer. If the context is very well known,” said Pulinckx. Brandishing his iPhone high over his head, he reminded the audience that the phone knows everything about yourself. It knows your payment record, where you were, your friends and your interactions with social media.
“With any kind of AI system, you can probably have an answer that you cannot even dream of because the machine knows me probably better than I do,” said Pulinckx. As a per a recent announcement, he noted that some of the tools built by OpenAI will find their way into Siri, Apple’s intelligent assistant. An early sign of higher interactions.