Summary
What this article covers in 30 seconds
- Public trust in AI is fragile, shaped by science fiction fears and data scandals.
- Financial services is also rebuilding trust after the financial crisis.
- The FCA has highlighted that technology relies on public trust and willingness to use it.
- Recordsure’s experience suggests customers accept technology when its purpose and benefits are clearly explained.
Trust is a big concept. It forges relationships and progresses ideas, and is pretty much the foundation upon which societies are built.
Once trust is lost, whether destroyed by one action or eroded over time, it can be a monumental struggle to regain. With artificial intelligence, that trust was not necessarily there to begin with. For as long as humans have imagined artificial beings capable of thought, they have also worried about the ethics and dangers attached to them.
Science fiction, reality, and everything in between
For many people, AI still suggests dystopian futures, human extinction and robot overlords. This sits alongside everyday reliance on AI, from Netflix recommendations and email spam filters to Siri.
Scandals such as Facebook Cambridge Analytica reinforced public fears about data mining, influence and privacy. Any trust that had been building was damaged, and the conversation casting AI as a threat resumed.
AI meets financial services
Financial services has its own trust issues. The financial crisis led to more than a decade of work to rebuild public trust after a major loss of faith. That effort has led to progress in responsibility, regulation and innovation, but there is still a long way to go.
In a speech delivered at The Alan Turing Institute’s AI ethics in the financial sector conference, the FCA’s Christopher Woolard considered the use of AI for consumer good. He examined the role artificial intelligence could play in the future of financial services and the FCA’s part in that future.
technology relies on public trust and a willingness to use it
Technology for good
AI has the power to bring positive change to financial services. Technology such as Recordsure can support a future where automation makes good customer care an inherent part of the process. Elsewhere, AI is tackling financial crime in ways that were not possible before, while machine learning improves accessibility for customers interacting with their finances.
Given the chance, AI could be fundamental to restoring public faith in financial services, but only if it builds its own store of public trust. That depends not on AI itself, but on the humans who create and deploy it. Trust comes from a belief that best intentions are being acted on, and the key question is whether powerful AI tools are used consistently to add value for customers or to exploit them.
Solving this paradox
Popular uptake can indicate credibility and trust, but lack of wide adoption is typical of new innovation and can have the opposite effect. Customers respond best to new technology and processes when they are explained properly. That does not mean overloading them with terms and conditions, which Woolard points out can be off-putting, but being honest and transparent.
Firms use technology tools for many reasons. When customers and their data are involved, firms need to articulate what the technology is doing and why it is in the customer’s best interest. If there is no explanation of customer value, the firm should reconsider whether the technology should be used.
Recordsure has seen a clear trend among end customers offered the service by their banks. In most instances, Recordsure was embraced. The small minority who rejected the technology correlated strongly with cases where the purpose or benefits had not been communicated.
What this shows us
When an interaction began with an open conversation explaining what the technology did, customers were on board. They understood that the technology was there to offer transparency, give confidence that they were receiving sound advice and make it possible to identify issues early.
The lesson is that deploying new technology must be customer-focused. For it to succeed, the benefits need to be articulated in a transparent, customer-centric and accessible way. As firms use more AI, they need to keep customers informed so trust can be built in both technology and financial services.
Frequently asked questions
It says both AI and financial services face public trust challenges, and AI must build trust if it is to help restore confidence in the sector.
Technology relies on public trust and a willingness to use it.
Customers were more likely to accept the technology when its purpose and benefits were explained openly at the start of the interaction.